The Tonga Village Network Upgrade Project has been recording significant improvement with the number of line losses for the villages where works have been undertaken since the beginning of the project. This is the end result after upgrading of the HV Lines, Step-Down Transformers, LV Lines, underground service lines and the replacement of meter boxes for most of the ten villages on the Western Side of Tongatapu.
To date, works which has been undertaken for the month of November was the commencement of the upgrade of Houma, the largest village of the project. The team have completed upgrading the electricity network for the villages of Puke, Ha’akame, Ha’alalo, Vaotu’u, Ha’utu, Fahefa, Kala’au and Ha’atafu.
Since the progression of the network upgrading for Puke Village which was the first village to be completed, the line loss dropped from 34% of December (13/12/2011 – 11/01//2012) to 2% in the month of August (11/08/2012 – 09/10/2012). In addition, the new connection for the area increased by 10.10 %. The villages of Ha’akame and Ha’alalo also received the same outcome after the network upgrade. From the TVNUP report, it is evident that the overall faults for the two villages declined during and after the upgrade, in consequence the line loss dropped from 16.6% of December (12/12/2011 – 11/01/2012) to 8% in the month of September. The village upgrade is very much up to the level of international standard through using lines, conductors, meter boxes and some of the poles being imported from New Zealand which has been installed according to New Zealand standards.
Laying underground Service Line Team at Training Installing new LV Poles
The project also provides training opportunities for TPL linesmen as they undertake National Certificate in Electricity Supply Level 2 and 3. The linesmen are expected to gain more knowledge and skills during the course of the project.
The overall objective of the project is to provide access to a safe, efficient and reliable electricity distribution network to all participating villages in the project, thus decrease the reliance on diesel fuel imports for Tonga as a result of increased efficiency gains of at least 16% by 2012 in the Project Area.