Te Aponga Uira partners with the PCREEE to advance electric mobility in the Cook Islands

13 June, Rarotonga

Barely a month has passed since Small Island Developing States convened at Antigua and Bermuda to discuss their sustainable development challenges, the power utility at Rarotonga (Te Aponga Uira - TAU) and the Pacific Community’s Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (PCREEE) are already walking the talk in accelerating the decarbonisation of the transport sector of the Cook Islands.

Photo 1: A government-owned electric car undergoing charging at the Prime Minister’s Office [Courtesy of Andrew Campbell]

Equipped with a deep commitment to an ambitious renewable energy target, coupled with investments made on electric cars  and charging infrastructure, and supported by an engaging and visionary private sector and an environment-conscious population, TAU requested the PCREEE to assist in identifying feasible regulatory, infrastructure and business models that would support the more than one hundred and forty electric vehicles that are currently in the country and the projected growth in the industry over ten or so years to come.       

 A team from the PCREEE, funded by the NZ MFAT-SPC Climate Change Flagship Programme, and UNIDO were in the country over a week to assess EV developments on the ground, identify strategic charging sites and to collect views of relevant stakeholders from TAU, NGOs, the government and the private sector to help shape the future of electric mobility in the country.    The field mission culminated in a stakeholders’ consultation workshop to validate the preliminary findings and to exchange views and ideas. 

In delivering the opening address to the workshop, Danny Vakapora of TAU reemphasized that “TAU’s vision is to empower the community through innovative and sustainable energy solutions, and this is just one of the ways we can contribute towards this vision. Let us continue working together for a greener and more sustainable future”.

Photo 2: One of the electric cars owned by the Magic Reef Beachfront Bungalows [Courtesy of Andrew Campbell]

The workshop discussed the whole electric mobility ecosystem beginning with policies surrounding their imports, data and registration, user / driver awareness, safety, capacity to supply parts and maintain as well as their end of life disposal.

“The Cook Is is ahead on the readiness for the electric mobility transition in the Pacific Islands and I want to congratulate TAU for this partnership, said Andrew Campbell, the lead technical expert for this technical assistance.  Electric mobility must involve a close collaborative effort among a number of agencies and the power utility must be one of them.”    

Both TAU and the PCREEE are looking forward to the next stage of their collaboration which would involve training of staff, closely monitoring and documenting experiences from the ground and working with agencies to better coordinate the decarbonisation of the transport sector of the Cook Is. 

Contacts:

Danny Vakapora – DVakapora@electricity.co.ck">mailto:DVakapora@electricity.co.ck">DVakapora@electricity.co.ck

Solomone Fifita – solomonef@spc.int">mailto:solomonef@spc.int">solomonef@spc.int

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