Vatulele District School

Vatulele District School is the only school on Vatulele Island, off the south coast of Viti Levu. It has 179 students and 9 teachers.

Before solar, the school had power for only a few hours each day, and paid for very expensive satellite internet. It was willing to carry that cost because it was making a serious push to lift its low academic ranking. Marks were already improving, and backing that effort became a priority for us.

The school now has 24-hour power, low-cost Starlink internet, laptops and smart TVs, and it is streaming ahead. The fuel it no longer buys and the satellite service it has cancelled also mean more money for education resources. Vatulele is a great success story.

We first planned a ground-mounted array, but soon found that the shallow bedrock would make that difficult. The panels went on a building instead, which first needed a new roof, so the project took a little longer than planned. Everyone was delighted when the lights went on in September 2026, and there were great celebrations.

The 18 kW array and 59.4 kWh of battery storage were funded through the Australian Government's REnew Pacific program. The system is part of The Solar Fund (Fiji), which monitors it and pays for its servicing and repairs, so it keeps working long after the installers have gone.