What do you do, career to date? The EPU's broadly defined task is to plan for Tonga's energy future. As an Energy Officer it is my job description to assist Energy Planners with achieving this in the most efficient and sustainable (financially, environmentally, socially) way. In a developing country like Tonga however, this is easier said than done as funding is short and qualified personnel even shorter. As a graduate engineer (electrical) from Monash University, Australia, I have become heavily involved not only in assisting with the technical design and installation of off-grid PV systems but also with the planning of more effective administration and management systems that can better service the people of Tonga and ensure the Tongan energy sector is run in an organised way.

Projects of Interest: Solar electrification of Mango and Mo'unga'one Islands, Co-designer "Tonga Off Grid Initiative"  under the Tonga Energy Roadmap 2010-2020 and currently the Energy Officer in charge of biofuel research specifically into the use of coconut oil as a biofuel.

What do you enjoy best about your job? The feeling that all the things I learned at uni are actually useful! Its amazing how the problem solving approach allows you to attack projects in a systematic, logical and ultimately, a more efficient manner. The best part of the job is after implementation of a project that’s when its clear that all the figures and diagrams have become a difference in someone’s life, this is especially evident in a place like Tonga.

Why did you choose engineering? Engineering was actually chosen for me by an ex-teacher of mine, You see the only way for most Tongan kids to go to University (unless they're well off) is to get a scholarship. The problem I had, besides having no idea exactly what I wanted to do, was that I was born in New Zealand (AusAid and NZODA wouldn't give a scholarship to a punk kid from the islands who happened to have dual citizenship)  so I only qualified for the single Tongan government scholarship that year to study IT in Fiji. But obviously that's not where I went. To cut a long story short; my ex-teacher who was now the head of scholarships decided IT was not for me and 'upgraded' my scholarship from IT to a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Computer Systems). So with things completely out of my control I was sent to a University I never heard of, in a city I only heard about on the weather report and to do a degree I hadn't chosen. Sometimes things just work out far better than you could have planned.