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Asian Development Bank

100 Climate Actions from Cities in Asia and the Pacific

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The world’s third-smallest country is investing in photovoltaic solar panels and a battery system to reduce emissions and its dependence on imported and expensive diesel fuel.

Nauru has recently invested almost $30 million in a photovoltaic and battery energy storage combination. The project will finance a 6 megawatt (MW) grid-connected photovoltaic solar system together with a battery energy storage system, that will be completed in 2023 and save over 11,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent emissions annually.

11K
TONS CO₂ SAVED ANNUALLY

Once complete, the solar facility will generate about 12.4 MWh of power every year. During solar generation or when the batteries are delivering power, the diesel generators will be off and will only turn on when required. The project will provide reliable, affordable, secure, and renewable energy, reducing Nauru’s dependency on diesel, and boosting the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources from 3% to 47%.

The project will directly support the target of 50% renewable energy for Nauru under the Nauru Energy Road Map 2018–2020, and assist the country in achieving its nationally determined contributions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The project was funded through an ADB grant of $22 million and government counterpart financing of $4.98 million.

Nauru is the world’s third smallest country but has big plans for renewable energy (photo by Rafayil Abbasov).

The Challenge

Historically, Nauru has relied heavily on imported diesel for power generation creating the risk of power outages if supply is interrupted, but they are on a journey to change that.

Co-Benefits

Economic The project will help to reduce the cost of levelized electricity from $0.40 to $0.30 on Nuaru by reducing the reliance on expensive, imported fuel.

Social As part of the project, Nuaru Utilities Corporation employees will receive technical assistance, training, and institutional strengthening.