Tahiti sets course on renewable energy
Tahiti, the main island of French Polynesia, aims to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Among the initiatives aiming at green energy independence, two micro-turbines were set up on the drinking water network of Titioro valley. The device works like a water mill: the wheels driven by the force of the water moving will generate a totally renewable electrical energy.
An innovative and unique hydro system in the world
But unlike the water mill, the production is not solely dependent on potential releases of water from a dam or the strength of the current of a river: micro-turbines were deployed downstream of the network drinking water Titioro Valley. It is the force of the water rushing into the distribution system which will allow to generate electricity.
Initiated in 2009 and opened on 20 November 2014, this innovative hydroelectric device, named Vaimarama, is the first micro-turbine system to produce energy on a drinking water network.
Composed of two micro-turbines type “reverse pump”, of a respective unit power of 30 kW and 11 kW, this renewable system should produce some 95,000 kWh of electricity each year and meet the electrical needs of 35 Polynesian homes.
Vaimarama, whose total cost amounts to 20 million Pacific francs, received funding from ADEME for 23%. The project was developed as part of the law of December 2013 with the aim of increasing the use of sustainable energy in the Polynesian archipelago, which depends actually at 72% on fossil fuels.
