Two small hydro projects constructed in Samoa have increased electricity supply and helped boost hydro capacity to meet a goal of supplying 20% of the total demand of the islands via hydropower. By Andrew Bird and Alfred Matatia Halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand in the vast Pacific Ocean rests the island nation of Samoa.
This article focuses on the new 600-kWW Fausaga-Tafitoala and 200-kW Faleata small hydro projects, which were commissioned and dedicated to the people of Samoa at the beginning of 2019. Until recently, Samoa’s major form of electricity production was diesel generation.
Samoa is therefore taking a proactive approach to increasing its renewable energy generation and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Building new hydropower stations means Samoa is on track to greater energy independence and less reliance on costly diesel fuel oil.
In 2014, Samoa’s Electric Power Corporation (EPC) secured grant funding from all three aforementioned donor parties for the “Power Sector Development and Rehabilitation Project.”
The powerhouse contains a four-jet vertical Pelton turbine. Traditionally, the baseload for Samoa is provided by diesel power stations, with hydropower stations used as peaking stations to cater for the diurnal peak loads. Consequently, they continue to average capacity factors of no more than 35% due to lack of storage.
The run-of-river Tafitoala-Fausaga hydropower scheme is in the south of Upolu and upstream of the villages of Tafitoala and Fausaga. Integration of the scheme into the national grid has increased the renewable energy generation contribution by about 1,820 MWh annually and translates to a 2% increase in the hydropower contribution to the energy mix.
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