The solar home PV program in Fiji – A successful RESCO approach?

The Fiji solar home system (SHS) program provides electricity, primarily for lighting, for remote households located in rural areas where supplying electricity via the grid is not feasible. The program is implemented by the Department of Energy (DoEF) and although initially designed on the RESCO model, the program as currently implemented is based on a partial RESCO approach as the government rather than a service company has full responsibility for program delivery. Donor-supplied capital is used for the initial equipment purchase and installation costs and all equipment and components supplied and installed under the program are owned by the government. A survey of both SHS users and those involved in the program design, planning and implementation was undertaken in order to obtain a better understanding on the Fijian SHS program, the approach used, the delivery method, the policy framework within which it is implemented and the overall the effectiveness of the program. This, in turn, helps to understand how SHS programs being implemented elsewhere can be improved. The main survey finding was that the effectiveness of the implementation of the Fijian SHS program is seen by many stakeholders to suffer from a lack of well developed planning and policy support. This manifests itself in a lack of support infrastructure and in a weak monitoring and maintenance program, which in turn give rise to significant technical problems. Many stakeholders consider there to be significant capacity for increasing the effectiveness of the program by the development of a more comprehensive and robust monitoring system, the provision of quality post-installation services, and the use of higher quality components. A number of measures that could be adopted to improve the effectiveness of the program at little or no cost are suggested.