The Third Board Meeting of the SHOS Project

27 August 2021, Suva Fiji: The Third Board Meeting of the Solarisation of Heads of State (SHOS) Residences in PIDF member countries project was convened and hosted virtually by PIDF secretariat. It was attended by representatives from the Republic of Fiji, Republic of Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Government of India, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office and Solar Heads of States official. The meeting informed Board Members on the progress made by the project team and discussed the impacts of project risk, in the context of COVID-19 on project delivery and timelines. In his opening remarks, the Chair, His Excellency Temate Melitiana (High Commissioner of Tuvalu) stated the pandemic has triggered a global health and economic crisis that calls for greater international co-operation across a number of areas, from the development of vaccines and treatments, to strengthening the robustness and resilience of supply chains, to the co-ordination of fiscal and monetary policies in support of developing countries.

Project implementation in Palau, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and PIDF are ready for roll-out in the next 12 months inclusive of design and detail specification for procurement. The SHoS project demonstrates the Pacific Island leadership in ensuring an inclusive green recovery post this pandemic. This project has been developed to demonstrate the benefits of renewable energy and inspire the mass adoption of solar energy and other renewable energy technologies in the Pacific region. This particular initiative brings together a regional organization (PIDF, SHOS), a Global-South Development partner (the Government of India), an international executing agency [UNDP] and a private sector partner (SOLARIA) based in the United States of America, which is donating the solar panels.