Tuvalu’s 14-day State of Emergency will end on 1 May, but the government says it is moving quickly to shore up power supplies with a mix of temporary and longer-term measures — including a rental generator funded by the Asian Development Bank that is now expected to arrive on 28 May. Transport and Energy Minister Simon Kofe told reporters on Monday the island nation’s electricity system is “holding steady” even as authorities rush to reduce the risk of future blackouts.
Kofe said recent outages were caused by network problems rather than failures of the generating units themselves. “Generators are operating well. Recent blackouts were due to network issues, not generator faults,” he said, adding that work to integrate solar output into the grid has improved after communication cable faults with the battery system were repaired. Technical advisers are already on the ground assisting the Tuvalu Electricity Corporation (TEC).
The ADB-funded rental generator is earmarked to provide backup for three to six months while procurement of permanent replacement units proceeds. Kofe said bids for permanent backup generators are expected to be called in early May, with technical teams coordinating the tender process. The interim rental unit is intended as a stopgap while longer-term investment and upgrades are put in place.
International partners are mobilising specific technical support. Japan is exploring sending a Daihatsu specialist to assist with existing TEC generators, Kofe said, while Australia is providing advisers to strengthen TEC’s financial and operational systems. Public Works Department and ICT teams are also working with TEC to bolster infrastructure and system security, the minister added.
Authorities are also targeting social impacts from the emergency. The Department of Energy, together with the Red Cross, has begun a survey to identify households that experienced hardship during the emergency period and may be eligible for assistance. Kofe said the survey will inform targeted relief while stabilisation efforts continue.
Fuel supplies remain stable for now, the government says. The next fuel tanker is scheduled to arrive on 13 May, and Canberra is assisting Tuvalu to expand and strengthen fuel storage capacity to reduce vulnerability to future disruptions. Despite the reassurances, there is a window of several weeks between the end of the emergency and the arrival of the rental generator, a gap officials say they will cover with temporary measures and increased technical oversight.
This update follows earlier reporting on the energy disruptions that prompted the short State of Emergency. The latest developments mark a coordinated push by Tuvalu and international partners to both address immediate risks and move toward more resilient, longer-term solutions for a nation highly exposed to climate impacts and reliant on a small number of generation assets.