Mitiaro Island, Cook Islands, Energy Survey Report

Mitiaro Island, Cook Islands, Energy Survey Report. Final Version - 28 March 2012. 

The energy survey in Mitiaro, including the household survey questionnaire and this report, has benefitted significantly from recent United Nations(UN) supported household surveys in Vanuatu, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the Cook Islands. 

In May 2011 the Government of the Cook Islands requested the United Nations Development  Programme (UNDP) to provide technical assistance for a scoping mission for a planned renewable energy power project on Mitiaro Island. The Director, Renewable Energy Development Division, Office of the Prime Minister, Government of the Cook Islands,the Chief Executive Officer, Te Aponga Uira (TAU) and the Energy and Environment Specialist, UNDP Pacific Centre undertook the scoping mission to
Mitiaro from 27 June to 1 July 2011 with the following objectives: i) to consult with key local stakeholders including Island Council, Mayor and Island Secretary; and ii) to gather information including undertaking a comprehensive energy survey. Planned deliverables from the scoping mission included: i) mission report; ii) energy survey report (which is this report); iii) technical report on power system including generation, distribution, and financial and administration matters; and iv) a detailed project proposal.

The household survey questionnaire is available in the Annex. The household questionnaire was based on those used successfully in earlier UN supported Pacific  household energy surveys, specifically in Fiji (2005), Solomon Islands (2006), Samoa (2007/2008), RMI  (2008), Vanuatu (2010) and Cook Islands (2011). Thus this survey including the design benefitted significantly from the experiences gained in the preparations, delivery and analysis of these earlier surveys, but a number of minor changes were made tofit the situation in Mitiaro. All households were in Mitiaro were included in this survey.

Keywords: household energy survey