Nauru Energy Sector Overview 2013

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Nauru Energy Sector Overview 2013

The aim of the present report is to provide a stock take of the current situation in the energy sector of Nauru and therefore inform a baseline which can be used in the development of the Nauru Energy Road Map (NERM). As such, this report will present:
 General country context (geography, economy, population, etc.);
 Energy sector landscape covering supply and demand and institutional arrangements;
 Experience, potential and challenges in the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency; and,
 Data needs for the energy road map and beyond.
This report does not include information on the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) as the centre currently caters for its energy requirements largely independently of the rest of the Nauru energy sector.
Petroleum imports
The average amount of petrol purchased by the government for its own use and for distribution is around 1.5 million litres (ML) a year. Automotive diesel oil (ADO) is around 8.8 ML and jet fuel around 1.3 ML. The Government has frequently relied on grant funding from Australia and Japan for the purchase of petroleum imports for the power sector. RONPHOS also do their own purchasing of petroleum products. Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene are imported and distributed by the private sector. Diesel fuel and petrol are stored and distributed by Nauru Utilities Corporation (NUC) to all users except RONPHOS who maintains a separate diesel fuel storage facility and often imports diesel for their industrial use. Jet fuel is used only by the national airline Our Airline though the NUC does manage its storage along with that of other petroleum products.
Electricity
Nauru’s grid electricity supply comes from a single power station operated by NUC. The generation, transmission and distribution equipment is old, with much of it urgently needing repair or outright replacement. The existing diesel engines have enough capacity to meet demand but if any one engine breaks down, load shedding is necessary. Maximum demand was once in excess of 7 MW but has dropped, largely due to the loss of industrial demand, to around 3.6 MW dominated by domestic usage. The weekday baseload is around 2MW.
Prepayment meters have been installed since 2009 for most domestic and commercial customers. There have been reports of prepayment meter tampering. The tariff is still heavily subsidised, with a residential rate of 0.10 AUD /kWh up to 300 kWh and 0.25 AUD /kWh for additional energy. Commercial customers pay a flat rate of 0.30 AUD /kWh. The industrial (phosphate) rate is 0.50 AUD /kWh and the government is now being charged 0.50 AUD /kWh. Full cost recovery is estimated to be between 0.45 and 0.49 AUD per kWh.
Due to the major structural changes taking place in the Nauru economy in particular the reopening of the Regional Processing Centre (RPC), accuracy is very low for forecasting future energy use.