BPP Partnership Impact Series: Powering opportunity and energy access on Solomon Islands’ Savo Island
Since its launch, the Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) has worked with ambitious partners to deliver meaningful, lasting change in communities across the world. The BPP Partnership Impact Series celebrates the outcomes and lessons from our partnerships, highlighting their contributions to inclusive economic growth, resilience and sustainable development.
Our Off-Grid Renewable Energy partnerships across the Pacific and Timor-Leste focused on sustainable, locally-led solutions that expand energy access for remote and rural communities, while delivering tangible social and economic benefits. They are pilots for REnew Pacific, the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific’s (AIFFP) $75 million investment to scale off-grid renewable energy across the region. This partnership established a scalable model for commercial off-grid renewable energy services in remote areas, through the installation of a solar-powered system combined with local entrepreneurship and services management.
Powering opportunity and energy access on Solomon Islands’ Savo Island
In remote island communities, access to reliable, affordable energy remains one of the biggest barriers to economic opportunity. On Savo Island in Solomon Islands, a new partnership is showing how innovative business models can help change that.
Through Australia’s Business Partnerships Platform (BPP), Archipelago Energy has worked with local entrepreneurs to pilot a new approach to off-grid energy that combines renewable power with income-generating opportunities for communities.
Rather than focusing on infrastructure alone, the project tested a community-based energy services model, designed to work in remote island contexts where traditional service delivery is not viable.
A central focus of the partnership has been creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
Impact key highlights
- 96 households (approx. 480 people) with improved access to reliable electricity through pay-as-you-go solar home systems
- 6,354 litres of fossil fuel displaced per year as a result of solar home kits plus the fish trading sites
- Approximately AUD 23,000 being saved per year in fossil fuel costs
- 2 sites featuring a combined 4.8 kW solar installation supported by 20 kWh of battery storage powering freezers for fish storage
- 2 local businesses led by women entrepreneurs established
At two sites on Savo Island, locally women-led businesses are now delivering energy services powered by solar systems. These include:
- Solar-powered freezers supporting fish storage and trade
- Rental solar home kits providing affordable household energy
- Internet access and small business opportunities enabled by reliable power.
This model is designed to overcome a key challenge in the Pacific: how to deliver energy access in small, dispersed communities where distance, cost and limited infrastructure make conventional solutions difficult.
A key innovation of the project is linking energy access directly to income generation.
Solar-powered freezers have created new fish buying points in the community which allows local fishers to sell their catch close to home, rather than travelling long distances to markets in Honiara.
Reliable lighting is supporting children to study at home, while households can charge devices, improve safety, and explore new income opportunities.
Two locally owned energy service businesses have been established and are fully owned by women. Women have also been among the majority of solar kit customers, reflecting strong demand for reliable household energy.
Models like this could help unlock new pathways to energy access supporting more inclusive economic development across the Pacific.
View the full partnership impact story below or download here.
