Environmental and social management framework for the vanuatu rural electrification project stage II (VREP II)

The Government of Vanuatu together with the World Bank implemented the Vanuatu Rural Electrification Project Stage 2 (VREP II)  as part of scaling-up access to electricity services in rural areas through the financing of micro- and mini-grid installations. VREP II builds on the Project’sfirst stage (VREP I) which is financing “plug and play” systems for approximately 17,500 rural households, aid posts and community halls. Both VREP I and VREP II are investments under the Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries Program (SREP). SREP is a funding window under the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) and seeks to support scaled-up deployment of renewable energy solutions to increase energy access and economic opportunities in developing countries.

Under the SREP Investment Plan for Vanuatu (Government of Vanuatu and Climate Investment Funds, 2014) potential renewable energy resources were evaluated against national and SREP criteria and one of the investment priorities that emerged was “Individual solar systems and micro/ mini-grids for rural electrification”. Hence, the VREP II project design is consistent with the SREP Investment Plan.