A rental generator funded by the Asian Development Bank will arrive in Tuvalu on 28 May and serve as an interim backup for three to six months while the government procures permanent replacement units, Transport and Energy Minister Simon Kofe said in an update on Monday as a 14-day state of emergency came to an end. Kofe said the move is designed to shore up supply while technical and procurement work continues after recent blackouts that were attributed to network faults rather than generator failures.
“Generators are operating well. Recent blackouts were due to network issues, not generator faults,” Kofe told PACNEWS, adding that technical teams are already on the ground addressing those faults. He said communication cable problems with the battery system have been fixed, allowing the solar array to contribute reliably to generation — an important step in improving the island nation’s energy resilience and in easing reliance on diesel imports.
The government is pacing a suite of short- and medium-term actions. Permanent backup generator procurement is under way, with bids expected in early May, Kofe said. Japan has been approached to provide specialist support, with the Government of Japan exploring sending a Daihatsu specialist to assist with existing Tuvalu Electricity Corporation (TEC) generators. Australia is also providing technical advisors and support: Canberra will assist TEC with strengthening its financial systems and accounts, and is helping to boost national fuel storage capacity to guard against supply disruptions.
Fuel supply itself is currently described as stable, with the next tanker scheduled to arrive on 13 May. That delivery, and the ADB-funded rental unit due at the end of May, are intended to give authorities “breathing room” while long-term solutions are procured and infrastructure upgrades proceed, Kofe said. Public Works Department and ICT teams are collaborating with TEC to harden infrastructure and system security against future failures.
Support is being directed at households affected during the emergency. The Department of Energy, together with the Red Cross, will conduct a survey to identify families eligible for hardship assistance, Kofe said, signalling a focused effort to target relief where outages produced the greatest hardship. The minister also noted that technical advisors already in-country are troubleshooting ongoing challenges and helping to improve the integration of renewables into the grid.
This latest briefing updates earlier emergency announcements and underlines how international partners — the ADB, Japan and Australia — are being mobilised to stabilise Tuvalu’s electricity system while procurement and system upgrades proceed. The rental generator’s 28 May arrival and the 13 May fuel shipment are the clearest near-term milestones yet provided by government sources.
In regional news reported in the same bulletin, Palau’s former leader and business pioneer Surangel Whipps Senior has died at age 86, a development that marks a significant moment for the broader Pacific given his long-standing political and commercial influence.