LOCATION: West & East Sepik
DATE: 2020 – 2023
“Kamapim Pawa” is a project funded under the PNG_AUSTRALIA Partnership program “Pawarim Komuniti”, to support PNG Government provide clean and reliable electrification as agreed in a PNG Electrification Partnership during the 2018 APEC Meeting, ensuring 70% of the population have access to reliable electricity by 2030. The kamapim Pawa project was successful under a partnership between Tenkile Conservation Alliance (TCA), Solar Solutions (PNG) Ltd (SSPNG) and Perth Zoo. TCA was set up in the Torricelli Mountain range of West Sepik to protect endangered tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus Scottae) species believed to be extinct. In 2019, TCA proposed to electrify 2690 households including 350 community streetlights in communal areas for the 50 villages that signed a moratorium to protect the endangered species. This was part of TCA’s commitment to improve the livelihood of the villages in various projects and the Kamapim Pawa Project was successful in securing funding and support with partners SSPNG and Perth Zoo.
The project was a success that prompted an extension to include 5315 households in 100 villages outside of the moratorium area. The supply and installation of the solar home systems is expected to be completed by 2023. Solar Solutions (PNG) has placed a full-time staff to ensure the technology are quality tested, proper skills are transferred to selected technicians and monitoring and evaluation is carried out to measure the success of this project.