Students explore renewable energy options for Tonga

The five University of Canterbury students looked into different options for energy, including producing a biofuel from coconuts. Photo / iStock / Getty Images

Engineering students have returned from Tonga where they helped a power company find renewable energy products.

The five University of Canterbury students looked into different options for energy, including producing a biofuel from coconuts.

Supervisor Dr Andrew Lapthorn said the coconut biofuel, although technically possible, was deemed not economically viable for electricity generation.

Different options including wind power, tidal energy and solar power were modelled for three different island groups: Ha'apai, Vava'u and Tongatapu.

Students presented their research findings and project modelling to Tonga's state-owned electricity company, Tonga Power Ltd.

"It's vastly different from New Zealand in terms of the resources available," Dr Lapthorn said.

Tonga mainly relied on diesel power generators until a few years ago, Dr Lapthorn said.

"Adding more renewable generation can help insulate the community from oil price changes."

Students looked at storage options for renewable energy, and how much energy each option could produce.

"People look at renewable energy and they think things like wind and solar and there's an abundance of that in the Pacific, but there are the challenges such as how to store electricity for use when it is not windy or sunny.

"Tonga relies heavily on external aid from other countries such as New Zealand and China, so the students findings can help inform funding applications to implement chosen power systems," Dr Lapthorn said.

The five students were Aaron Ang, Andrew Berr, Mitch Graham, Ben Mulholland and Peter Whyte.