Outline
Tarabo Lutheran High School, located in the West Okapa district, Eastern Highlands Province, is operated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG. The school infrastructure has been significantly upgraded during the last years, including the addition of 14 staff houses, classrooms and a new library. This greatly improves the educational environment despite existing challenges such as poor road conditions and security concerns. The school shall be raised to the status of Secondary School in 2025 in alignment with government efforts to expand educational access in underserved areas of PNG.
Specific challenges
Tarabo Lutheran Secondary School has no connection to the national power grid and is powered only by a diesel generator on site. The regular costs of fuel and its transport are a significant portion of the school’s budget.
Planned solution
A standalone SolSol solar station can serve as a cost-effective and reliable replacement of the costly diesel generator. A PV rooftop installation of 15-20 kWatt together with a battery storage for night-time service will be sufficient to keep Tarabo school powered at all times.
Estimated completion date
Once funding has been secured, installation shall be completed within 6 months (1st half 2026)
Required resources
A local team of 4-6 young persons, boys & girls equally, will be trained to perform the required maintenance and quality control tasks on the PV station to ensure its performance over the expected 15-20 years of its lifetime.
A solar PV station is a valuable asset for clean and sustainable energy for the Tarabo community. It reduces costs and air pollution, increases the reliability of power supply by independence from fuel prices and frequent power outages of the public grid.
