The Papua New Guinea Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs acknowledged PNG Power for its participation during the recent visit by the French President, Emmanuel Macron in July of this year.
The signing of the three-party agreement between PPL, AFD and Enercal for technical training for PNG Power staff in renewable energy sector took place during the visit.
The signing is a result of a year’s collaboration between AFD and PPL following AFD’s offer to PPL to provide technical assistance through Enercal, the power utility in New Caledonia and is expressed by PPL CEO Obed Batia as historic for PPL and PNG as there is now a new partner in the power sector, the French Government, through its Development Agency Agence Francaise De Developpement (AFD) who is stepping forward to support PPL and the power sector in PNG.
In this project AFD will provide a grant funding of EURO800,000 (K3.1million) to Enercal for the purposes of training PPL staff in the design of renewable energy technologies such as Solar PV into the PPL power networks.
Following the introduction of AFD by the Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH) to PPL in 2022, PPL identified the need for proper training of its staff in the area of designing of renewable energy technologies into the PPL grids. This is in line with one of PPL’s initiatives of migrating away from expensive imported fuels to renewables.
Mr. Batia stated that the PNG Power welcomes the government of France through AFD for joining the PNG PEP partners and long term partners to support the electrification of PNG.
“This is a grant funding to Enercal for the purposes of training and building PPL staff capability,” Batia stated.
“There are no financial risks to PPL, its shareholder or the Government of PNG associated with this agreement. The EURO800,000 is grant funding that PPL is not required to pay back,” he stated.
