EAP - The Pacific Infrastructure Challenge - World Bank (2006).pdf

Regional Cooperation in Electricity
Through the auspices of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, based in Suva Fiji, there has
been considerable focus in recent years on regional cooperation. All the countries covered by
this Review, with the exception of Timor Leste, are full members. Timor has observer status
at present.
Considerable efforts are being made through institutions like the Pacific Islands Forum
Secretariat to improve the co-ordination machinery in Pacific countries. Much of it is
directed at high level policy, and increasingly on security and sustainability-of-nation-state
issues. However, there are a number of agencies providing policy co-ordination and practical
advice in the energy sector: the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat; the Committee of Regional
Organizations of the Pacific (CROP) Energy Working Group; the Pacific Islands
Development Program (PIDP); and the South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission
(SOPAC). The CROP Group has prepared a regional Energy Policy and Plan which sets out
a useful framework for energy policy planning in the Pacific. Box A.8 summarizes the plan.
There are a number of private regional organizations, including the Pacific Power
Association (PPA) and the Pacific Water Association offering help to utilities in the region.
The PPA is involved the most with practical assistance to electricity utilities in the region.
The Pacific Power Association (PPA) plays an important coordinating role in the Pacific. It
provides technical assistance support, as well as benchmarking the relative performance of
electricity utilities in the region. It makes a positive contribution although a higher level of
commitment from Pacific country governments – who own all utilities – to the work of the
PPA and additional funding from governments and donor or lending agencies would have a
significant payback in terms of improved performance. The FEA success story is a good one
to emulate in the region, perhaps through the FEA, and with the support of the PPA and
the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
The South Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP) is an organization with a
mandate to promote cooperation in the Pacific region to protect and improve the
environment and ensure sustainable development. It has a specific interest in energy related
issues in the region and is the executing agency for the Pacific Islands Renewable Energy
Project (PIREP), a GEF/UNDP funded regional climate change mitigation project aimed at
developing and commercializing renewable energy systems to reduce the long term effects of
growth in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use.
There is another form of regional cooperation in the form of common private sector
ownership or operation of electricity assets. For example, Vanuatu’s UNELCO is part of the
same group that serves New Caledonia and Tahiti, allowing them to draw on an experienced
senior management pool in the region.
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