Providing Light for 600,000 People
K-water, a state-run corporation specializing in water resources development, has won a hydroelectric power project worth US$211 million in the Solomon Islands.
The Korean corporation announced on Dec. 5 that it would sign a contract on the Tina River hydroelectric power generation project with the Solomon Islands Government in Honiara, the capital of the island country, on Dec. 6.
The Solomon Islands is a country with a population of 610,000, consisting of islands near Australia and Papua New Guinea. Diesel power generation accounts for 97% of its power generation, so the nation has to stomach high power generation costs. Due to the want of infrastructure such as a power grid, only 10% of the population is using electricity.
K-water will build a power generation dam with a capacity of 7 million cubic meters of water and a hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 15 MW in the Tina River near Honiara from October of next year to 2024.
The project is designed to supply 85GWh of electricity annually for 30 years. The Solomon Islands’ electricity cost is at the highest level in the world, but is expected to be at least halved thanks to the project. At present, the average consumer electricity cost of the Solomon Islands is more than six times higher than that of Korea.