In Solomon Islands, Shania Kavusu is training to become a solar technician with Superfly, the locally owned company delivering REnew Pacific’s first project in the country. She works across the tool room, the sales desk and the top of a solar array at schools and hospitals, one of the few women in a trade still dominated by men. “I am proud to be the only lady breaking barriers at Superfly,” she says, “proving that we can handle everything from sales and storage to powering up our schools.” Check out her story here.

Also in Solomon Islands, Nerol Vaekesa is the one keeping that project on track. As REnew Pacific’s Portfolio Manager, based in Honiara, she works with partners to plan, manage and deliver solar systems in some of the country’s hardest-to-reach places, from Atoifi Adventist Hospital in Malaita to remote boarding schools. “The true power of electricity,” she says, “is not in the energy it provides but in the safety, opportunity and hope it brings to communities.” Check out her story here.

In Fiji, Tamara Smith, the Office Manager for It’s Time Foundation, helps bring solar power to more than 45 rural schools that are part of REnew Pacific’s projects. This year, she helped organise Fiji’s first all-women contractor team, who installed wiring and solar systems at a school in the Yasawas. “If I can help create a future where a girl sees a woman installing solar panels, leading projects and shaping the industry and thinks, ‘I can do that too,’” she says, “then I’ve done something that matters.” Check out her story here.

And across the region, Kelly Vacala leads communications for the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) in the Pacific, making sure the people and communities at the centre of the transition are heard. “Use your voice with purpose,” she says, “lead with conviction and leave every space stronger because you were in it.” Check out her story here.

From the tool room to the boardroom, these women are showing what an inclusive energy transition looks like, and there are more of their stories still to tell. The projects they work on are part of REnew Pacific, delivered by the Australian Government’s Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) and implemented by Palladium.

Join us each week for a new story as we count down to COP31.

This week’s film comes from Solomon Islands, with just three weeks to go!

The post Women leading the clean energy future appeared first on REnew Pacific.

Solar power is lighting up Fiji’s rural schools and it is changing who gets to build that future. Tamara Smith is at the centre of both. Based in Nadi, Tamara is the Fiji Office Manager for Its Time Foundation (ITF), supporting the delivery of solar installation projects across off-grid rural schools. Her role spans almost every part of the work, from communicating with schools and stakeholders to coordinating logistics, tracking projects and building the systems that keep them moving. 

Her path into the sector began with a leap into the unknown. At the end of 2023, with her children overseas, Tamara decided to leave a steady job, start freelancing and embrace new opportunities. That led her to ITF founder Rob Edwards, who was already installing solar energy systems at Fijian schools, giving students reliable light to study by and expanding energy access for remote communities. When ITF scaled up its work in the region, Tamara came on as its locally based Office Manager, helping strengthen the systems behind a fast-growing portfolio. 

Through REnew Pacific, ITF works in partnership with Fiji’s Ministry of Education and the Australian Government to bring clean, reliable 24-hour solar power and internet to remote schools that once relied on costly diesel generators. Its first REnew Pacific project, building on a 2024 pilot at Buakonikai Primary School on Rabi Island, is delivering solar power to more than 30 remote schools. In October 2026, at Pre-COP31 in Fiji, Australia announced a second REnew Pacific project with ITF, expanding the work to 13 more remote schools across Vanua Levu, Viti Levu, Taveuni and the Yasawa Islands. It will install solar and battery systems at schools and teachers’ homes, along with Starlink internet, laptops and smart TVs, benefiting more than 1,200 students, around 325 teachers and family members and an estimated 7,500 people in surrounding villages. Beyond REnew Pacific, ITF’s team works on other schools across Fiji as well. 

For Tamara, it is the children in those classrooms who matter most. “The impact this has on children learning and the wider community is very significant,” she says. “They learn and are instilled with the importance and value of sustainable and renewable energy, in safeguarding our futures.” 

This year, alongside her management responsibilities, she took on a project especially close to her heart: helping organise Fiji’s first all-women contractor team. The team travelled to Ratu Naivalu Memorial School on Waya Island in the Yasawas to install wiring and solar systems, followed by a women’s leadership workshop and a women’s panel at the SEAIPI conference in Suva in March 2026. It is an approach ITF is continuing across its work. 

Working alongside women in trades showed Tamara both the opportunities and the barriers that remain. “It is rare to have women working in trades but it has been a privilege to meet and work with a few on this project,” she reflects.

She has seen how hard it can be for women to speak up about pursuing trades careers, often with little support from family and friends and how easily they can be outnumbered once in the industry. “We must work extra hard for the recognition, acceptance and progress of girls and women in the trades,” she says. 

Looking ahead, Tamara wants to grow the impact of these projects, keep supporting student learning and push for more intentional involvement of women in trades across the renewables sector. Her message to young women is to be deliberate about where they are headed. “You have opportunities out here to do anything you put your mind to,” she says. “Be intentional about where you want to be in two, five and ten years and know that while your plans may change, it is very useful to have your own markers of progress.” 

Tamara has a message for businesses too. Acknowledging women as equal contributors matters, she says, but it is not enough on its own. Real training and genuine pathways have to come with it. “You need to open the door and take action, give women the tools, allow women the space to be trained, to take on roles they are skilled in and gain experience,” she says. “It is imperative to walk the talk.” 

For Tamara, the real measure of success is what opportunities she can create for the next generation. “If I can help in even a small way to create a future where a girl sees a woman installing solar panels, leading projects and shaping the industry and thinks, ‘I can do that too,’ then I’ve done something that matters.” 

Tamara’s story is part of ITF’s work with REnew Pacific, bringing clean, reliable solar power to remote schools and the communities around them across Fiji.

Learn more about REnew Pacific’s projects with Its Time Foundation:

Across the region, women are stepping into roles that are reshaping how energy is generated, managed and shared. Their leadership is powering homes, schools and businesses with clean energy, building stronger, more resilient communities and showing what an inclusive energy future looks like.

We’re proud to showcase some of these remarkable leaders through our Women in Power series, which highlights women powering change through REnew Pacific.

The post Switched on: Tamara Smith on powering Fiji’s remote schools and women in trades appeared first on REnew Pacific.

Few places demonstrate this better than Apolima, a tiny island in the strait between Samoa’s two main islands, home to just 11 households. Through REnew Pacific, the Electric Power Corporation (EPC) is replacing the island’s small, ageing power network with a new solar and battery system that runs day and night, with a back-up generator only for long cloudy spells. EPC will own and maintain it, funded by electricity payments, so the island keeps the power on for good. Across Samoa, the same project is reaching another 108 households and five community fales on Upolu and Savai’i that have long lived beyond the grid, replacing wood, kerosene and diesel with clean, safe power. Find out more here.

In Fiji, GGGI is reaching the maritime islands of Lakeba, Rotuma and Vanuabalavu, separated from the main group by long stretches of open sea. Delivering solar-hybrid systems here means shipping equipment across the ocean to reach around 4,900 people, replacing the diesel that has to be barged in with cleaner, steadier power and water. Find out more here.

In Kiribati, EcoCare is bringing a whole-of-island solar system to Arorae, the country’s southernmost outer island, home to more than 1,000 people. Reaching every corner of it takes a new mini-grid with battery storage and more than five kilometres of underground cabling, replacing the island’s diesel generators and powering its schools, clinic and community halls and progressively connecting up to 100 homes, with Starlink and e-learning reaching students on the island for the first time. Delivered by local NGO EcoCare Group with CBS Power Solutions and the Arorae Island Council, it’s built to grow as the island’s needs do. Find out more here.

A second REnew Pacific project reaches further still, to Riboono in Abaiang and Tabuarorae in Onotoa, where GGGI and Kiribati Green Energy Solutions (KGES) are installing solar-hybrid mini-grids with battery storage. Around 800 people will gain reliable, round-the-clock power for homes, schools, health centres and small businesses, with the systems built, owned and run locally by KGES to keep them going for the long term. Find out more here.

And in Vanuatu, the last nautical mile has a vessel of its own. Respond Global’s HELPR-1 carries solar systems, tools and technicians by sea to health facilities on outer islands reachable only by boat and sets them up on arrival. It’s our first project to complete, installing or upgrading solar at 41 health facilities across all six of Vanuatu’s provinces, bringing reliable power to clinics that serve more than 70,000 people. Find out more here.

Behind every panel installed this far out are the boats, the open-water crossings and the incredible people bringing power where the grid was never going to go. These REnew Pacific projects are all delivered by the Australian Government’s Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) and implemented by Palladium.

Join us each week for a new story as we count down to COP31.

This week’s film comes from the recent launch of REnew Pacific’s Kiribati projects, where the Australian High Commission counts us down with now only four weeks to go!

The post Reaching the last nautical mile appeared first on REnew Pacific.

The projects include:

Scaling a sustainable solar model for Fiji’s remote schools

It’s Time Foundation, in partnership with Fiji’s Ministry of Education, will install solar systems with battery storage at 13 remote schools and teachers’ homes across Vanua Levu, Viti Levu, Taveuni and the Yasawa Islands. Each school will also receive Starlink internet, laptops and smart TVs, benefiting more than 1,200 students. The project builds on It’s Time Foundation’s first REnew Pacific project, bringing solar power to more than 30 remote schools, and a 2024 pilot at Buakonikai Primary School on Rabi Island. Find out more

Pay-as-you-go solar bringing energy, learning and livelihoods to Papua New Guinea’s Oro Province

Sola PayGo and MiBank will bring pay-as-you-go solar home systems, streetlights and education servers to around 55,000 people in 19 communities between Popondetta and the Kokoda Track, alongside training in technical, financial and digital literacy. Find out more

Brighter classrooms and safer schools through solar energy in Bougainville

Save the Children and the Autonomous Bougainville Government’s Department of Education will install solar and battery systems at five remote schools in Tinputz, while a school-managed solar lantern scheme will bring safer lighting to up to 2,000 nearby homes, reaching more than 11,400 people. Find out more

The projects were announced at a special Pre-COP31 event, Powering the Pacific: Electrification for Climate Resilience, Energy Security and Development, which brought together Pacific and Australian leaders, communities and experts to explore how renewable energy can strengthen energy security, expand energy access and support development across the region.

Opened by Tina Stege, COP31 Regional Envoy for Oceania and Climate Envoy for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the session featured insights on the Pacific energy transition from Professor Iain Macgill of the University of New South Wales and Dr Ravita Prasad of Fiji National University. REnew Pacific Team Leader Mohammed Angawi introduced the program before Rob Edwards OAM of It’s Time Foundation and Ulamila (Mila) Lagivalu, Head of School at Namara Village School, shared how solar power is transforming learning in remote Fijian schools. Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change, the Hon Ralph Regenvanu, closed the session with a Pacific leadership perspective.

Today’s announcement brings REnew Pacific’s portfolio to 13 locally led projects across seven countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. In less than two years, REnew Pacific now reaches more than 255,000 people with projects powering more than 8,100 homes, 98 schools and 49 health centres. REnew Pacific builds on the Australian Government’s Off-Grid Renewable Energy Partnerships pilots, launched in 2024 across Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu. Together, that’s 26 projects, with 15 already complete, reaching more than 428,000 people across 215 schools, health centres and communities.

Miss the event? Check it out here:

Check out photos from the event too:

The post Three new REnew Pacific projects to power schools, homes and communities in Fiji and Papua New Guinea appeared first on REnew Pacific.

Today, REnew Pacific joins the Powering the Pacific: Electrification for Climate, Resilience and Development session, where the conversation explores one of the region’s biggest opportunities: how renewable energy and accelerated electrification can strengthen energy security, expand access, build economic resilience and help keep the 1.5°C goal within reach.

The session brings together leading voices on the region’s energy transition, including electrification researchers Professor Iain Macgill of the University of New South Wales and Dr Ravita Prasad of Fiji National University, with senior Pacific and Australian leaders and special guests also expected to take part.

Our Team Leader Mohammed Angawi brings that to life with REnew Pacific’s work on the ground, from solar-powered clinics and schools to remote island homes and village water systems. He’s joined by Rob Edwards OAM, founder of It’s Time Foundation, which is bringing reliable solar power to more than 30 remote and maritime schools across Fiji, and Mila Lagivalu, Head of School at Namara Village School, one of those schools. Once reliant on a diesel generator, Namara now runs on solar, with Starlink internet, laptops and digital tools connecting its students to the wider world for the first time. Together, they’ll share what reliable power really means for a school and its community.

While the session has sold out due to incredible interest, we’ll share updates from it following the event.

Join us each week for a new story as we count down to COP31!

Mohammed sends this message live from Pre-COP at five weeks to go:

The post First stop: Fiji, where Pre-COP begins appeared first on REnew Pacific.

The projects will deliver solar-diesel mini-grids and battery storage to Arorae, Abaiang (Riboono islet) and Onotoa (Tabuarorae islet), powering homes, schools, health centres and businesses while cutting reliance on imported diesel and building climate resilience.

The Kiribati Minister for Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy, the Hon Tekeeua Tarati, together with Australia’s High Commissioner to Kiribati, H.E. Mark Foxe, officially launched the projects at the MISE Engineering Day in Bairiki Square, Tarawa.

EcoCare Group, a local not-for-profit, is partnering with CBS Power Solutions and the Arorae Island Council to bring 24/7 electricity to more than 1,000 people on Arorae, Kiribati’s southernmost island. A whole-of-island system will connect schools, clinics, community halls and up to 100 households. Find out more.

The second project will reach around 800 people on Riboono and Tabuarorae, connecting more than 200 households along with schools, health centres and small enterprises. New solar-diesel hybrid mini-grids with battery storage will be built, operated and maintained by Kiribati Green Energy Solutions (KGES) as a local energy provider. It is led by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), with KGES, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy (MISE), the Ministry of Culture and Internal Affairs and the local communities. Find out more.

REnew Pacific is the Australian Government’s AUD75 million investment in off-grid renewable energy for rural and remote communities across the Pacific and Timor-Leste. Launched in November 2024, the five-year program is delivered as part of the AUD350 million Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership (PCIFP) through AIFFP.

The post Australia switches on solar power for remote Kiribati communities appeared first on REnew Pacific.

Nerol Vaekesa knows what it takes to bring reliable, renewable electricity to some of the most remote communities in Solomon Islands. As REnew Pacific’s Portfolio Manager for Solomon Islands, based in Honiara, she works with partners to plan projects, manage risks and get solar systems installed and running in places that are hard to reach so they deliver for the communities they serve.

She came to REnew Pacific after more than a decade working across international development organisations, driven by a passion for development work that has shaped her whole career. She was drawn to renewable energy by the opportunity to help bring electricity to remote communities and see first-hand how that access can transform lives. “Seeing positive outcomes and changes in healthcare, education, safety and economic opportunities is truly one of the best feelings,” she says. “It is heartwarming to see.”

For Nerol, working in renewable energy also offered the opportunity to contribute to development in her own country. As a Portfolio Manager, her work spans strategic oversight, risk and milestone management, site assessments and monitoring visits, reporting and compliance and managing the partnerships that support project delivery on the ground. Much of that work happens behind the scenes but its impact on remote and off-grid communities is real and lasting.

Her portfolio includes REnew Pacific’s partnership with Superfly, which is bringing solar hybrid power to Atoifi Adventist Hospital and two remote boarding schools across Malaita, Western and Isabel Provinces. The project is replacing expensive diesel generators with solar hybrid energy systems, cutting diesel consumption by up to 95% and providing affordable, 24/7 electricity. In Eastern Malaita, more than 81,000 people will benefit from reliable power at Atoifi Adventist Hospital, supporting critical medical services including emergency care, maternity services and medical training. At Goldie College in Western Province and Sir Dudley Tuti College in Isabel Province, more than 1,400 students will benefit from extended study hours, improved learning conditions and greater safety, with reliable power supporting dormitories and classrooms.

After more than a year in the role, it is seeing those results that motivates her most. “It is rewarding to see 24/7 electricity reaching placed that previously had limited or no access to power,” she shares. “I am particularly proud and touched to see hospitals able to operate essential medical equipment that helps save lives, and schools where students can study safely with proper lighting.” For Nerol, knowing that the projects she supports are helping improve healthcare, education, safety and everyday life across Solomon Islands is what makes the work meaningful.

Renewable energy is still a sector where women can be underrepresented, particularly in roles that involve technical work, remote travel and project delivery. Nerol is helping to pave the way for this to change.

“As a woman, I have learned the importance of being confident and resilient,” she reflects. Travelling to remote communities, working with partners and contributing to projects that improve people’s lives has also given Nerol an opportunity to challenge assumptions about who belongs in the sector. She hopes her experience will encourage more women to consider careers in renewable energy and show that women have an important role to play in shaping sustainable development in Solomon Islands.

Looking ahead, Nerol wants to see more women leading projects and organisations across the renewable energy sector, proving what is possible when women are given the chance to lead. She also wants to continue extending electricity to communities that are still without reliable access to power, something she remains deeply committed to.

Her message to young women and girls centres on the value of persistence. “Be passionate about what you want to do and what you are currently doing,” she says. “Work hard, believe in yourself and don’t be afraid to pursue opportunities, even in fields where women are underrepresented. Patience, determination and persistence will carry you through challenges and help you achieve your goals.”

Nerol also has some heartfelt words for the partners and stakeholders working alongside her to deliver projects across the region. “Your commitment to reaching remote and off-grid communities across the Solomon Islands has been inspiring and it has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated organisations and individuals,” she says.

She is proud of what they have achieved together and the difference those partnerships are making in communities. After all, that difference is ultimately what the work is all about.

“The true power of electricity is not in the energy it provides,” Nerol says, “but in the safety, opportunity and hope it brings to communities.”

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Nerol’s story is part of our broader program, with her management of projects that are providing clean, renewable energy to power healthcare, education and essential services across Solomon Islands.

Across the region, women are stepping into roles that are reshaping how energy is generated, managed and shared. Their leadership is not only powering homes, schools and businesses with clean energy, it is building stronger, more resilient communities and showing what an inclusive energy future looks like.

We’re proud to showcase some of these remarkable leaders through our Women in Power series, which highlights women powering change through REnew Pacific.

The post Powering progress: Nerol Vaekesa on connecting people, partnerships and projects in Solomon Islands appeared first on REnew Pacific.

In Samoa, REnew Pacific’s first project is bringing solar and battery systems to 108 households and five community fales across Upolu and Savai’i, reaching families who have long relied on kerosene lamps, wood fires and disposable batteries for light. Led by the Electric Power Corporation (EPC), it means children can study into the evening, homes are safer without the smoke and fire risk of kerosene lamps, and phones and appliances can be charged without a trip into town. Twenty of the most vulnerable households are being supported through a fast-track partnership with the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development so the families who need it most aren’t left behind.

The five community fales matter just as much. These shared village spaces give people who can’t host a system at home somewhere to charge phones, gather under lights and use shared appliances, while supporting village meetings, youth programs and women’s committees. It turns energy access into something the whole village shares. Find out more here.

In Vanuatu, that everyday difference is measured in water closer to home. In the remote community of Petervat, in north Malekula, a new solar-powered system pumps water from a natural spring to five taps around the village, delivered by GGGI and Vanuatu’s National Green Energy Fund. “In the past, we relied on water from the river, but now we have access to water from a natural spring, and daily life is much easier,” says Jamie Vaxal, Secretary of the Petervat Community Water Committee. Petervat is one of nine communities across Santo, Paama, Tanna and Malekula gaining solar-powered water under this REnew Pacific project, with the systems at Petervat and Lerengrong both switched on in recent weeks. The project is also equipping 24 schools and health centres with solar and training locals to run the systems themselves, reaching more than 5,100 people in all. Find out more here.

In Fiji, that everyday difference reaches the teachers who live where they work. Through REnew Pacific, It’s Time Foundation is powering more than 30 remote and maritime schools along with the staff houses on their grounds so teachers posted far from the nearest town finally have reliable light and power at home. It means preparing lessons in the evening and keeping a phone charged are no longer a daily struggle, making remote postings easier to live in, and helping schools keep the teachers their students depend on. Find out more here. Find out more here.

And in Papua New Guinea, one of REnew Pacific’s earlier pilots shows how far a single household system can reach. Through Sola PayGo, delivered under the Business Partnerships Platform, more than 7,000 families in remote communities have swapped kerosene, candles and torches for pay-as-you-go solar at home, gaining an average of 35 extra usable hours a week. Nine in ten households say their children are now studying more and quality of life improved for nearly everyone surveyed. One teacher put it simply: “We finally have a better lighting system in our home so I can stay up late to mark my students’ papers and prepare their lessons. My children can also finally study well.” Find out more here.

This is what the energy transition looks like at its most personal: a lamp, a fridge, a charged phone, water closer to home. It’s the difference REnew Pacific is working to make across the Pacific and Timor-Leste by supporting locally led projects that bring clean, reliable energy within reach of the communities furthest from the grid. These projects are all part of the Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership (PCIFP), a $350 million initiative for climate infrastructure in the region, delivered by the Australian Government’s Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) and implemented by Palladium.

You can hear more about this work at Pre-COP, where REnew Pacific will feature in the Powering the Pacific: Climate Resilience, Energy Security and Developmentsessionon Monday5 October. The session brings Pacific and Australian leaders together to share on-the-ground impact and insights from across the region. One of the teachers from It’s Time Foundation’s Fiji schools will speak to what reliable power has meant for her school and community. Register here.

Join us each week for a new story as we count down to COP31.

This week’s countdown comes from the Australian High Commission in Samoa, at 6 weeks to go.

The post Everyday connections beyond the grid appeared first on REnew Pacific.

In Vanuatu, Respond Global’s REnew Pacific project didn’t just install and refurbish solar at health facilities, it cleared out the old solar kit too, safely removing e-waste from 38 sites and processing 56 end-of-life batteries through RecycleCorp Vanuatu rather than leaving them to leach into fragile island environments. Ageing lead-acid batteries were replaced with longer-lasting lithium and at least one salvaged system was restored and redeployed to another clinic. Local technicians and trainees from the Vanuatu Institute of Technology were trained alongside the installers and every site custodian was briefed and was left with shut-down instructions in English and Bislama on the wall so the knowledge stays in the community. Find out more here.

Another Vanuatu project, this one led by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), builds this in from the start. Remote monitoring lets technicians spot and fix faults without a boat trip, while each community runs a committee, at least 40% of them women, that collects a small user fee to fund ongoing upkeep. It’s a model that keeps both the systems and the skills to maintain them in local hands. Find out more here.

In Fiji, It’s Time Foundation’s REnew Pacific project is proving the same point with money, not just maintenance. Its schools are backed by a dedicated Solar Fund, a protected fund that keeps a solar contractor on retainer for preventive checks and quick-response repairs when something goes wrong. It draws on several sources so it never runs dry: an amount earmarked for each school’s upkeep from the outset, a modest ongoing contribution from the schools themselves that is paid for out of the portion of money they no longer spend on generator fuel plus dedicated grants. Schools also pitch in local transport, meals and labour for maintenance visits, keeping costs down and giving communities a real stake in looking after their own systems. Find out more here.

And in the Marshall Islands, building to last means building for the worst. REnew Pacific’s first project in the country, delivered by UNICEF Australia and partners, is equipping remote schools with cyclone-resilient solar and battery systems, which are elevated, corrosion-resistant and enclosed against saltwater and heat, on low-lying atolls that sit barely two metres above the sea. Designed to keep working through extreme weather, the schools can double as safe community shelters when a storm hits. Find out more here.

This week’s countdown film comes from Solomon Islands, where Superfly is engineering the same staying power into the hospitals and schools it energises, backing each system with a 10-year commitment, remote monitoring and local servicing.

This is what sustainable really means: not just clean energy but energy that lasts, maintained by local people with the skills and the funding to keep it going. These REnew Pacific projects are all part of the Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership (PCIFP), a $350 million initiative for climate infrastructure in the region, delivered by the Australian Government’s Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) and implemented by Palladium.

Join us each week for a new story as we count down to COP31.

The post Built to last: keeping Pacific solar running appeared first on REnew Pacific.