Wainimakutu High School

Wainimakutu High School is in Namosi on Viti Levu, and shares its solar system with Wainimakutu Primary School.

This is a lower-income community, even by the standards of the remote schools we work with. Before solar, an old, inefficient generator ran for three to four hours each evening for night study and to power the teachers' homes.

We installed the 5 kW system in 2013. It powered the high and primary school buildings, including the classrooms and offices, and the teachers' homes until 2020, when grid power reached the school. That was only seven years of service, but it saved about FJ$9,000 a year in fuel, money that went into education instead, and it carried a generation of students through school until the grid arrived.

It was a game changer for a generation of children in the community. Kids who had never touched a keyboard were using computers, improving their chances of going on to tertiary education, among many other benefits.

The project was funded by the Fiji Water Foundation, with support from our equipment and service sponsors.