Fiji’s Rural Electrification: The Solar Roll-out That Slipped

A Perfect Plan—Nine Months Late

Fiji’s Rural Electrification Support Project set out to bring solar-battery mini-grids to 11,000 off-grid households. Yet an ADB review flagged procurement cycles running six-to-nine months behind schedule, in part because three ministries updated separate documents.

The Pain Points

  • Fragmented risk tracking. Weather, logistics and procurement risks lived in silos.

  • KPIs not mapped to SDG 7.1. Contractors reported “panels installed,” not “population gaining reliable electricity.”

  • Paper-heavy field logs. Progress photos arrived weeks after site visits.

The EMPHASIS Approach

  1. Central Risk Register – traffic-light dashboards escalate issues before they balloon.

  2. KPI Engine – village data flows straight into SDG 7 dashboards and donor reports.

  3. Mobile Field App – technicians snap timestamped photos that sync the moment a satellite signal appears.

Lights should switch on when the sun rises, not when spreadsheets finally meet. Ask for an EMPHASIS walkthrough focused on procurement and risk modules.