SUSTAINABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT AND ACCESS PROJECT

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The objective of the Sustainable Energy Development and Access Project is to improve reliability of electricity supply, expand access to electricity, and scale up renewable energy generation. There are five components to the project, the first component being improving reliability of electricity supply in Pohnpei State. This component will address PUC’s challenges with insufficient available generation capacity, which is way below the installed capacity, to cover peak demand in a stable manner and reduce unscheduled shutdowns of power supply and unsecure waste oil storage. The second component is the expanding access to electricity in Chuuk State. This component will support CPUC to expand access to electricity in Chuuk State, where the access rate is the lowest in the country (27 percent) due to the remoteness of several islands. The third component is the scaling up renewable energy generation in Chuuk, Yap, and Kosrae States. This component will support CPUC to install the state’s first utility-scale solar power plant to reduce fuel cost of diesel-based power generation and relieve CPUC from the financial burden incurred by access expansion on the outer islands. The component will also support YSPSC and KUA to significantly mitigate the curtailment of the existing RE output and enable the integration of more variable RE through storage capacity and high-speed gensets. The fourth component is the institutional strengthening and capacity building in the energy sector. This component aims at reinforcing the sector’s operational and environmental sustainability by improving institutional capacities for governance, identifying strategies to attract private sector investments and exploring access to other efficient energy solutions. This component includes two subcomponents: Sector Governance, and efficient and clean cookstoves. Finally, the fifth component is the technical assistance and project management. This component will finance: (a) contract staffing for the project, including a project manager, consultancies and non-consultancies, office and other equipment, travel, and operational costs; (b) training and workshops; (c) recruitment of a full-time energy adviser to assist and support the Secretary of Resources and Development (SoR&D) on energy sector policy matters and development strategy; (d) support to utilities on respective activities implementation, including support on coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting; and (e) capacity building for local experts through technical transfer and on-the-job training with international consultants.