There has been much consternation about the impact emissions trading will have on Australia’s electricity prices. However, if you told a Norfolk Islander that their home electricity costs were going to rise to just 18 cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh), they would jump for joy.

Norfolk Islanders hardly need a price signal to look for a cheaper, less emissions intensive power source – the Island’s 100 per cent diesel-powered grid means the islanders bear the full brunt of global oil prices in their electricity costs as well as for transportation. Electricity prices have tripled over the past few years to 64 c/kWh, closely tracking the latest price rise of imported diesel.

The most recent jump in prices has tuned the ears of the locals into other options which Norfolk Island Electricity – the government owned utility – has been investigating for some years. Most recently, Norfolk Island Electricity was successful in obtaining funding from the Commonwealth Government to bring in a solar power trainer for two weeks to train its electrical workforce on the ins and outs of installing grid-connected solar power.

While there are currently a handful of stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed on the island, none of the electricians held BCSE Accreditation. Because the Australian Government’s grid-connected solar rebates require systems to be installed by an accredited installer, there was no way for local Norfolk Islanders to access financial support for installing solar power.

A solar PV installers training course has changed this. The two-week program was funded through the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program (RRPGP) and allowed Norfolk Island’s nine electricians to gain grid-connect accreditation.

As part of the course the ‘students’ installed the island’s first grid-connected solar PV system on Norfolk Island Electricity’s maintenance shed. The system was opened by the Norfolk Island Chief Minister Andre Nobbs and Minister for Finance Neville Christian, and was visited by some of the local school’s pupils shortly after.

Norfolk Island has had to grapple with many of the big issues of sustainability on a macro scale. The island’s only source of electricity is from diesel generated power and the spiralling cost of diesel in recent years has meant that electricity prices have followed the same trajectory. In an effort to control the demands on its electricity infrastructure, the island has some unusual (for mainland Australia) rules regarding appliances. No appliances larger than 2.5kW on domestic power systems, no air-conditioners (except for the chocolate shop) and almost no street lights (just one).

In this context, solar PV is – even on a purely economic basis – much more attractive for the island’s residents than it is on the mainland. The island, located some 1,400 kilometres east of northern New South Wales, has a very mild climate with a good solar resource. Moreover, combined with the Australian Government’s $8,000 rebate for 1 kW PV solar systems, the pay back period is less than one year.

The Norfolk Island Government has indicated that it would like approximately 100 solar PV systems installed on the island this year and will monitor how this level of local generation affects its small mini-grid.

Currently two 1 megawatt diesel generators supply an average daily demand of 950 kW and with two daily peaks (morning and evening) that reach around 1,750 kW, they need to move from one genset to two twice a day.

However, integrating a large amount of solar PV into this network may create ‘surprise’ peaks and troughs as cloud cover moves across the island. The gensets are currently managed manually as their warm up and cool down periods are not easily automated. It seems that the Norfolk Island Power House staff have a near supernatural sense of the island’s electricity needs and have managed to provide a very reliable and stable power supply for many years.

The challenge for the island now will be how to effectively move away from the reliable but ever increasing price of diesel generated base load power to renewable sources.