Singapore’s Hitachi-Aquatech has awarded a contract to two New Zealand companies for a 131 kWp solar system to power a desalination plant for the Pacific island of Nauru.
Solarcity New Zealand Ltd and Panasonic New Zealand Ltd, which is supplying the panels, are currently installing the equipment, with final commissioning scheduled towards the end of February 2014.
The US$ 4 million project is being funded under the Pacific Environment Community (PEC) Fund.
“Together, SolarCity and Panasonic NZ are aiming to help roll out more cost-effective solar projects across the Pacific,” says Solar City CEO Andrew Booth. “We are primarily targeting large-scale state-of-the-art solar projects to reduce Pacific Island nations’ dependency on fossil fuels for power generation and desalination.”
