Afolau Biomass Gasification Power Plant in Mulifanua. Photo: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Samoa
A WST$14 million (NZ$8m) biomass project, intended to generate electricity for the Samoa national grid, is under review after it incurred more loss than profit.
Minister for Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, told Parliament the biomass facility at Mulifanua sits idle after the injection of millions of dollars.
He said the Samoan government is reviewing the development, given that the method was useful to generate electricity, but should be operated in a way that does not incur a loss for the state.
Toeolesulusulu was responding to the Infrastructure Sector Committee Report 2021-2022 and the MNRE Annual Report for the financial year 2019-2020.
In November 2020, the Afolau Biomass Gasification Power Plant in Mulifanua was officially opened with plans to produce 5,000,000 kilowatts of electricity annually and was the first facility of its kind in Samoa.
"This is the first facility of its kind to be set up in Samoa and the region and will benefit up to 5,000 families on the north-western side of the island of Upolu who will use electricity from this Plant," the government had said at the time.
The project was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) via the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the European Union, and the Government of Germany's Government Agency of International Cooperation (EU-GIZ ASCE).
In terms of the wind turbines in Aleipata, the Minister of Works Transport and Infrastructure, Olo Fiti Vaai, said the Electric Power Corporation has no intention of installing additional turbines.
He said the turbines have a capacity of 245 kilowatts for both devices but to date, the energy produced has not reached 10 kilowatts.
Meanwhile, Toeolesulusulu said there are plans from the government to establish a Ministry for Climate Change and the bill for this is being drafted and will be tabled in the future.
Parliament deliberation on the 34 reports from the parliamentary committee and annual reports will continue on today (Wednesday).