Uninterruptible Power Supply Solution for Timor-Leste

Stakeholders confirmed that the state delivers Timor-Leste's national electricity supply, with no private actors involved. The electricity system's power stations and transmission lines, including those being modernised through assistance from the Asian Development Bank, are shown in Fig. 4.

Timor-Leste's power stations and distribution lines, showing the Power Distribution Modernisation Project. The initial capital investment in the new power system was reported as US$2 billion for the main power stations and distribution lines.

The project will support EDTL improve the power supply infrastructure in Timor-Leste. The principal weaknesses in the power sector are the high cost of generation, inefficient distribution, low level of revenue generation, ongoing need for substantial fiscal subsidies, and excessive technical and non-technical network losses.

Such support mechanisms could form part of a suite of elements to facilitate agricultural micro-enterprises in Timor-Leste, as has been done in other countries through priority lending schemes . Supporting agricultural cooperatives could also contribute to sharing risks and broadening markets.

Interview findings suggested that the existing electricity network in Timor-Leste, with noted excess capacity, provided a largely untapped potential for supporting irrigation needs, such as groundwater pumping, to enhance water security.

Most of the energy infrastructure that existed when Timor-Leste was part of Indonesia was destroyed during the violent outbreaks of 1999. At the time of independence in 2002, electricity access was estimated to be just 24 % of the population .