Fiji is failing to become an attractive market in the renewable energy sector for international investors.

CBS Power Solutions, General Manager and Director, Amit Singh claims the challenge lies in the economies of scale.

Singh adds they have had discussions with investors from financial institutions and private investors from Europe, US and Australia, however, they do not want to invest because the market here is too small.

“These investors would love to give USD$10m but our demand is only USD$3m. So this is not an attractive market for them and this is one of the issues that we have realised in the last 18 months when trying to secure and source financing.”

Singh adds while there are many opportunities in the renewable energy sector, there are many financial limitations.

“The private investors are on a receiving end, what ADB, the World Bank and commercial banks formulate we will just receive that – we don’t have a say in what we need. We can share what we need but we can’t influence the policies, we can’t formulate with the governments. The private sector has very limited says when it comes to policies.”

These challenges were discussed at the ADB high-level meeting last week which addressed the concerns of financing for private investors in the energy sector.