Our toughest logistics challenge: Nasauvere Primary School

A helicopter hovers low over Nasauvere Primary School as students and villagers wave from the school building

With no road in, it took 30 horses, three villages, fifteen river crossings and six helicopter runs to bring solar to Nasauvere Primary School in 2026.

Nasauvere Primary School sits far up a river, deep in the interior of Viti Levu, with no road in. Its new solar system is now switched on, after a week of installation.

Aerial view of a river winding through steep, forested mountains, with an arrow marking Nasauvere far up the valley
Nasauvere (arrowed) lies far up this river valley in the interior of Viti Levu.

Over the last decade, getting solar into remote schools has thrown plenty at us. Nasauvere topped the lot.

“We've offloaded heavy batteries onto small boats out in the middle of the ocean, off barges, in terrible weather. But this project, Nasauvere, way up the river there, is the hardest logistics that we've encountered.”– Rob Edwards OAM, founder

The road runs out

Our partners at Transam Logistics trucked four tonnes of equipment from Suva to Sawanikula.

Workers move mounting rails and equipment from a truck onto four-wheel-drive utes on a gravel riverbank
Moving the load from the Transam Logistics truck to four-wheel drives.

At Sawanikula, the load switched to four-wheel drives for the next leg, to the staging point at Matawailevu. From there, the rest of the way was on foot.

Aerial view of three loaded four-wheel-drive utes crossing a wide, shallow river
The four-wheel-drive leg to the staging point at Matawailevu.

Fifteen river crossings

At Matawailevu, 30 horses were loaded up with electrical wire and other equipment. People came from all three villages that Nasauvere School serves to carry equipment alongside them.

Pack horses loaded with boxes and bags of equipment, surrounded by villagers, at Matawailevu
Loading the horses at Matawailevu.

The way in follows the river upstream and crosses it fifteen times. All four tonnes made the trip this way.

A man carries a length of timber on his shoulder across a rocky riverbed, with a line of villagers carrying equipment behind him
Carrying the load up the river: fifteen crossings, one way.

Six runs by helicopter

That still left the heaviest, bulkiest gear: the ground mounts, solar panels, inverters, batteries and cement. With no road into Nasauvere, there was only one practical way to get it there.

A helicopter flew another four tonnes in from a second staging point at Lutu, in six trips. It set each load down straight into the school playground.

A helicopter lowers a load on a long line onto the school field, where two installers wait to receive it
One of six loads from Lutu, set down in the school playground.

A village workforce

With everything on site, the community turned out in force. Villagers dug the trenches for the cabling to the school buildings and teachers' homes. They dug the holes for the ground-mount posts too, all the way down to the specified 1.3 metres.

Villagers digging a deep trench between school buildings
Digging the cable trenches to the school buildings and teachers' homes.

Two install teams

Two install teams shared the build: one from our long-term partners at CBS Power Solutions, and one drawn from our women's crew. Between them they built the arrays and installed the battery systems.

Three installers in hi-vis shirts fitting solar panels on a ground-mounted arrayTwo installers in hi-vis shirts with patterned sleeves fit an aluminium rail to a ground-mounted array frame
The CBS Power Solutions team fitting panels (left) and members of our women's crew fitting a rail to the array frame (right).

Meanwhile, another team kept everyone very well fed. The people of Nasauvere really know how to come together.

Workers seated on woven mats share a meal along a long table in a hall
Keeping the workforce well fed.

Switched on

Nasauvere Primary School now runs on solar, with power to its school buildings and teachers' homes. Starlink internet and computers come with it: in Rob's words, “a complete game changer for the school.”

School staff and guests, some in flower garlands, hold a banner congratulating Nasauvere Primary School on its new solar system
Celebrating the new solar system at Nasauvere Primary School.

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 walked back out.

Thank you to the people of Nasauvere and its three villages, and to everyone who carried, flew, dug and cooked to make it happen.

Check out the quick-cut videos from the install

Four tonnes of equipment, from Suva to the staging point at Matawailevu.

Thirty horses and three villages walk the load in, across fifteen river crossings.

Six helicopter runs from Lutu bring in the heaviest gear.

Villagers dig the trenches while the team installs the arrays.

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