The co-hosts of the Pacific Energy Summit in Auckland, New Zealand and the European Union, have announced that 533 million US dollars has been secured for renewable energy projects in the Pacific.
The two-day summit has put Pacific nations in touch with international donors and the private sector to try to boost investment in their energy roadmaps.
Donor countries have responded by committing 212 million US dollars in aid and 317 million in concessional loans to support more than 40 proposed projects.
As well as New Zealand and the EU, donors include Australia, the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, Japan, the World Bank and the United Arab Emirates.
The New Zealand foreign minister, Murray McCully, says clean and efficient modern energy services are the cornerstone of sustainable development, economic activity and poverty reduction.
He says the projects earmarked for development will help many Pacific nations increase their power generation from renewable resources to close to 50 per cent of their total supply.
