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Tina River hydropower scheme secures financing after a decade of preliminary studies

23 January, 2020

Entura welcomes the announcement that financing has been secured to enable construction of a 15 MW hydropower scheme on the Tina River, near Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Entura has been involved with the project for a decade, beginning with prefeasibility studies in 2009.

The development will replace expensive and emissions-intensive diesel energy generation with as much hydropower from the Tina River as is technically and economically feasible. By replacing diesel, the project is set to support the Solomon Islands to reach its emissions targets as well as to ensure more affordable, secure and sustainable electricity for Honiara.

Entura was engaged to identify the optimum hydropower development scheme based on technical, economic, social and environmental and load growth criteria, and to conduct the detailed feasibility study of the identified development scheme.

Over the last ten years, Entura has conducted prefeasibility and full feasibility studies including site identification and evaluation, conceptual and preliminary design, geological and geotechnical investigation, river gauging, social and environmental survey, stakeholder consultation, emergency management plans, and local capacity building.

More recently, in 2017, Entura was engaged to evaluate four options identified for the integration of the Tina River hydropower project into the Honiara network via a 66kV transmission line over a long distance through challenging terrain.

“Entura’s depth of expertise in sustainable hydropower development helped to pave the way towards the successful development of this important power-generation infrastructure,” said Pradip Verma, CEO of Solomon Power.

“The expertise provided by Entura will help ensure technical viability as well as a social licence to operate which will lead to minimisation of environmental and social impacts.”

“Entura’s vision is to create safe and sustainable power and water solutions that make positive and enduring contributions to our clients and to communities throughout the Indo-Pacific region,” said Entura’s Managing Director, Tammy Chu.

“We are delighted to see a decade of preliminary studies coming to fruition with the achievement of financing for this project.”

Construction is set to begin in 2020, with the US$240 million project due to be operational in 2024.