Ratu Apenisa Memorial School

Ratu Apenisa Memorial School is in Soso Village on Naviti Island, in the Yasawa Group. It has 97 students and 5 teachers.

A major cyclone destroyed the school's old building, and a new concrete building now stands in its place. It was finished only shortly before the installation, well after our original school survey (COVID delayed this project by about two years), so our original installation was moved from a ground mount to the roof of the strong new building.

Before solar, a small generator supplied one to two hours of power a day, and in the evenings when needed for night study. We expected the project to divert more than FJ$4,500 a year from generator fuel and fuel transport (about 30% of the total cost) into educational equipment and resources. Without solar, those costs would only have grown, with rising fuel prices and the school's plans to run the generator more once it had computers for the students.

The 5 kW system, installed in August 2022, included 18 Yingli 275 W panels, an OutBack FLEXpower TWO inverter/charger, five SimpliPhi PHI 3.8 lithium batteries, a Clenergy PV-ezRack roof-mount system and various electrical works.

The school committed to spending 20 minutes each week picking up plastic – less waste, and great learning for the kids.

Lead funding came from the Rotary Clubs of Sydney Cove, Ku-ring-gai and Augsburg-Fuggerstadt, with additional funding from our valued supporters. The school and the whole community send a big vinaka vakalevu – thank you. As always, our thanks go to CBS Power Solutions for partnering with us on the installation.