Stage One: Palau Solar and Battery Project
Status: Completed
Investment: AUD31.4 million (grant and loan)
The Palau Solar and Battery Project supported the construction of Palau’s first utility-scale solar and battery power plant at Ngatpang on Babeldaob. The facility was developed by Solar Pacific Pristine Power (SPPP), a private company that supplies electricity to the Palau Public Utilities Corporation under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement.
Completed in 2023, the plant comprises a 15.28-megawatt peak capacity solar power facility and a 12.9-megawatt hour battery energy storage system.
The plant currently provides up to 20 per cent of Palau’s power needs, delivering up to 23,000 megawatt hours per year to the grid network, reducing Palau’s reliance on expensive diesel generators.
Solar panels at the plant, opened in June 2023
Stage Two: Palau Renewable Energy Integration Project
Status: In implementation
Investment: AUD16.4 million (grant)
The Palau Renewable Energy Integration Project is in construction and will boost the storage of the solar power plant by 19MWh through newly installed batteries and upgrades to Palau’s network equipment and settings. It will improve electricity network reliability through better coordination of Palau’s generation assets, while increasing the project’s contribution of renewable energy on Palau’s grid to 25 per cent, saving Palau more than one million litres of diesel annually. The battery expansion will be fully commissioned before the end of 2026, and wider grid upgrades will conclude by mid-2027.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator the Hon Penny Wong (fourth from left) and Australia’s former Ambassador to Palau Richelle Turner (far right) visit the project site at Ngatpang with stakeholders, December 2023
Project stakeholders officially open the new solar plant, June 2023
Minister for Pacific Island Affairs the Hon Pat Conroy (second from left) and Australia’s former Ambassador to Palau Richelle Turner (second from right) visit the project site at Ngatpang with stakeholders, June 2023
Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator the Hon Penny Wong and Australia’s former Ambassador to Palau Richelle Turner (third and fourth from left) visit the project site at Ngatpang with stakeholders, December 2023
The projects demonstrate how Australian financing can leverage and encourage private sector investment to deliver critical, climate resilient infrastructure in the Pacific. Solar Pacific Pristine Power is a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Palau by Solar Pacific Energy Corporation. Solar Pacific Energy Corporation is a renewable energy developer based in the Philippines and part of the Alternergy group.
