HOME: Let Nature Design Your Renewable Strategy

This piece was originally published in Renewables Now.

by Laurent Albert, CEO

It’s time to redesign our energy strategy. And the very same nature that created an impressive energy palette with sun, wind, water, and more can show us how to do it.

Today, only 9% of the energy that powers grids worldwide comes from variable renewable energy (VRE) sources like sun and wind. Because of their intermittent nature, VREs are still considered a costly add-on to the “normal” grid. Even with the existential crisis of climate change, renewable technology investment is often treated as a luxury and decisions are driven by short-term thinking: how many megawatts can I get for my dollar with this technology versus that one?

It’s time to take a longer view. Renewables create a challenge because they’re variable; the sun sets, the wind stops. But sun and wind are not the only resources. Every point on the globe has multiple natural resources with unique synergies, an interplay between natural elements that balance each other and shape a particular climate, year in and year out. Rather than balancing one renewable resource with fossil fuels, we need to take our cues from nature and build an infrastructure designed around several resources and technologies that can balance one another. At Seabased, a European wave energy company, we call this the Hybrid Optimal Energy Mix: HOME.

The exact recipe for HOME in any given place is based on data--carefully tracking, minute by minute, the amount of potential power generated by various resources over time. Grid operators must provide a baseload of power—enough to meet the demand under normal circumstances. Historically, grid stability becomes a critical issue as soon as a certain percentage of the energy supply (15-20%) originates from intermittent sources. This explains why about 70% of our energy still comes from fossil fuels. So, the Holy Grail of a sustainable renewable energy strategy is to achieve a stable baseload by mitigating this intermittency through a robust, optimal combination of technologies and energy sources. When you track each resource meticulously, you can see at the end of a year how much of that baseload you can expect to derive from each renewable resource – and from the different resources combined.

Renewables in concert

Think of it as a symphony. Each instrument on its own delivers beautiful music, though with limitations. Flutes don’t hit the low notes. Drums don’t offer a melody. But when they work in concert--the strings, the brass, the woodwinds, the percussion, perhaps a piano--each doing what it does best, the difference is breathtaking. This is synergy: creating a whole that is more than the sum of the parts. This is what we can achieve by balancing multiple renewables.

For example, today we witness expensive windmills that are only running at a fraction of their capacity due to the intermittency and the corresponding grid limitations. But the right combination of technologies could increase the combined level of stable baseload, enabling each technology to produce at a higher level, mutually enhancing the value of each: the optimal combination of technologies is a tide that lifts all boats.

As head of a wave energy company, I am passionate about this topic. I find it a fascinating and exciting problem to learn to work with the Earth’s energy to create the best scenario based on nature, rather than extract energy in a way that harms Earth, and, ultimately, we who live on it. The tendency to embrace renewables based on their current price point has led to relatively anemic investments in ocean energy, despite the fact that the research shows wave energy could produce enough electricity for all the world’s demand. Ocean waves are more predictable than wind, more constant than sun—being a 24-hour phenomenon. And water’s density—800 times that of wind—makes waves incredibly powerful. Seabased is moving toward certification and commercialization. But, like many in the sector, we struggle against a pervasive notion that there are “enough” renewable technologies out there. We beg to differ.

If countries hope to reach their renewable goals, wean themselves off fossil fuels, and reduce their carbon output, they will need to be able to lean on all their resources. The technology will always evolve; the resources are relatively constant. The enlightened approach would be to make investments in technology that capitalize on those resources.

Bermuda at HOME: A case study

We have been working with the island of Bermuda, which, like most other islands, is entirely dependent on imported fossil fuels. Per capita, residents of Bermuda pay about three times what residents of their neighbor, the United States, pay for electricity.

Bermuda is 21 miles long and two miles wide, at its widest point. No one on Bermuda is ever more than five minutes away from the ocean, which is probably one of the reasons why, during non-pandemic times, the island attracts nearly 700,000 visitors per year. Bermuda has ample sunshine, wind, and waves, but the island also has constraints on how much it can capitalize on these resources. There is not enough available land for large wind or solar farms. So the country determined they would only be likely to derive a small amount of power from solar. And, any energy source offshore must be sufficiently invisible that it does not detract from ocean vistas.

Given these parameters, and using minute-to-minute sun, wind, and wave data in Bermuda, collected over a full year, engineers from Seabased have calculated Bermudians’ HOME. By plotting the power output of each resource on a graph, and cross-referencing it against another graph that plots variability of power produced by wind and wave, Seabased’s engineers concluded that Bermuda’s HOME would be found by supplementing the 6% of solar power with 28% wind energy and 66% wave energy. As exciting as this favorable data is for wave, we’re not quite ready for it yet – though Seabased is on track for providing competitive utility scale solutions like this in the near future.

The point is that looking at HOME tells us which mix of renewable technologies would benefit us most if they were available, and hence which are worthy of investment today, because the win – both commercial and environmental – will be enormous when we roll them out.

Making renewable decisions

The calculations for Bermuda were based on that island’s distinct geography, land mass, and access to a powerful wave climate, etc. Other climates will have a different HOME.

Ireland, for example, has wood, water, wind, wave and some wastes as key renewable energy sources. Its wave climate is dynamic, with waves up to three meters average on the West Coast and from one to two meters in the Irish Sea. In addition, there are only about 1,400 hours of sunlight per year—averaging less than four hours a day. Some inland places average fewer than two windy days a year, while northern coastal locations may have more than 50.

After plotting the resource’s potential power output, communities must explore and consider the possible constraints of land and/or water use. Finally, they will be able to calculate which renewable hybrid mix will produce the most stable power to the respective community; they will know their HOME. Donegal will likely have a different HOME than Galway Bay or Cork. However, the natural energy resources for each of these locations are consistent over time. 

Our 21st-century data collection and analysis tools give us a powerful new window into how the Earth’s resources work, separately and in tandem. With these tools, we can make precise decisions, with small margins, that can drive in significant value and benefits to our society. Over time, our technology and the way we use power will change. What will remain relatively constant—even with climate change—is the resources that make up the environment in our communities. We must design our renewable architecture based on an optimal mix of the resources themselves. 

Building the renewable energy world for 2050 starts at HOME.

Oceans can help free islands from fossil fuel dependency

When you think of islands you often think of holidays, sunshine, ocean views, and a laid-back, relaxed environment. You don’t think of fleets of tankers carrying fossil fuels to keep the lights on. But for most of the world’s thousands of inhabited islands, paying huge amounts of money to import fossil fuels has been their only option for economic development. Islanders, many of whom are below the poverty level, are accustomed to paying more than double what mainlanders pay for their electricity. But they also live with energy insecurity, since storms—which are common on islands--political unrest, and trade wars, can all disrupt delivery of the fuel, or make it too expensive to purchase. Without that fuel there is no power for homes, medical facilities, water and water treatment plants, businesses--including those that provide food, transportation systems….

The costs alone make shifting to renewables an attractive prospect. A 2014 report by the World Bank estimated that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) spend more than €57 million per day for oil. That cost, the report said, was largely to blame for SIDS high levels of indebtedness. In Puerto Rico, whose electric utility declared bankruptcy, the purchase of fossil fuels accounts for about 70% of the electric utility’s operating costs. But islands that are not SIDS pay prohibitively high rates as well. For example, Hawaii spends about €4.2 billion.

If SIDS switched to 100% renewable sources, they would save around €2.83 billion annually, research shows. That’s equivalent on average to around 3.3% of their GDP. Some, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans could achieve even higher percentage savings. Many are working to make that happen. The Global Island Partnership, led by the Presidents of Palau, Seychelles, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Prime Minister of Grenada, and Premier of the British Virgin Islands, supports resilient and sustainable island communities by inspiring leadership, catalyzing commitments, and facilitating collaboration for all islands. It holds several events every year and raises money and awareness.

And the EU has launched Clean Energy of EU Islands, policy initiative to help islands with their energy transition. The region has also mobilized €100 million under the Horizon 2020 program to enable island power systems by 2023.

But islands have several significant hurdles to overcome.

Jumping the hurdles

One of the big hurdles for renewable energy on islands has to do with landmass. Many islands simply lack the space for large industrial power sites, whether that’s hydroelectric plants, wind or solar farms, or other types. Offshore wind plants are an option, but since many islands depend on tourism, unobstructed sea views have significant economic value.

In lieu of big renewable power plants, many islands are moving toward microgrids—distributed energy systems with virtual power plants (VPP). With these small systems, a community of homeowners and shops might share the power from rooftop solar systems. The virtual power plant—a cloud-based system--distributes the generated power where it is needed. Often microgrids can connect and disconnect from the larger grid. This allows them to sell excess capacity to the grid and draw power from the grid when they run short. Microgrids help reduce the need for big swaths of real estate being dedicated to renewable power generation. But even these systems don’t work for everyone.

 For example, on some islands, rooftops are already in use for other things: water catchment, gardens, extra living space, solar water heaters, and more. And what do you do about a multi-family housing situation or a place where rooftops are made of materials not suitable for supporting solar panels, especially on islands where hurricanes and storms are an issue?

Each island, or group of islands, is finding solutions based on its own constraints. Recently, for example, two Danish islands—Bornholm and Samsø—and one of Scotland’s Orkney Islands were awarded the first ever EU RESponsible Island Prize in line with the Clean Energy for EU Islands initiative. Bornholm, for example, committed to being 100% sustainable and carbon neutral by 2025. All the energy produced on the island is fossil free and harvested from wind, sun, and biomass. They produce about 60% of the island’s energy needs and purchase the rest from Sweden. Their EcoGrid 2.0 project involves 1,000 households participating in experiments to guide demand-side management.

The other big hurdle is, as always, money. Renewables often fall either on the extremes of “too emerging” and therefore too expensive; or “too affordable” and therefore not profitable as investments. Countries need to find more creative vehicles and approaches for making renewables a reality, for the sake of the whole planet.

Ocean energy, a powerful option

Emerging technologies that make perfect sense for many of these thousands of islands are those that capitalize on ocean energy. Islands are surrounded by ocean—ocean waves, ocean tides—the ocean is in constant motion, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. One of the problems with solar and wind energy is that they are very variable, which is hard on grid stability. But tides are very predictable and even more powerful waves take longer to build and subside than wind, so they’re more predictable and can balance out that variability.

Wave energy has multiple functions. It can be used to run hydroelectric plants, for water desalination, and to run smaller systems—like fisheries. Not all islands have the right wave climate for wave energy, but some, like the technology developed by European wave energy company Seabased, was designed to work even with moderate wave climates.

Some ocean energy technologies are designed not to be eyesores. Seabased’s buoys, for example, can barely be seen from the shore. And Seabased has done several environmental impact studies that show that our wave parks can actually become artificial reefs where desirable species can thrive and biodiversity increase, creating greater fishing opportunities outside the park and contributing to a healthy ecosystem.

Ecotourists love destinations with renewable energy

Increasing the amount of renewable energy on the island provides a strong economic lift as well. Increasing numbers of tourists prefer to stay in places that focus on sustainability. A report by the International Renewable Energy Agency shows that global spending on ecotourism has increased by 20% every year in the past few years; 6% of international tourists pay extra for sustainable tourism options; and 25% would be willing to pay more for environmentally friendly destinations. In Crete, Greece, 86% of survey respondents said they preferred to stay in hotels equipped with renewable energy technologies (RET), and 75% of them would be willing to pay higher fees for staying in a hotel with RETs installed. The revenues from ecotourism are estimated at roughly €513 billion per year.

Investment in renewables for islands is increasing. Research shows that €1.05 billion was invested globally into renewable energy for SIDS development between 2002 and 2016, with a big boost after 2009. However, during the same time period, non-renewable energy investment totaled €330 million—much of which, researchers assumed, went to prop up old grid systems.

 Right now, wave energy is just emerging, not ready to be commercially deployed. It is one of those technologies that today looks expensive but that, a few years hence, will be producing CO2-free power and saving islands billions in fuel costs. Waves aren’t subject to trade agreements or political unrest. When operating with more variable renewables, they can provide a stability that boosts the value and usability of all these renewable technologies. The most logical place to put money in energy, in economic development, in islands, is into freeing them from the burden of imported fossil fuels and providing CO2-free energy that becomes progressively more affordable for decades to come.

The Exciting Possibilities of a Blue Recovery

We can hardly comprehend the oceans. They cover 70% of the earth’s surface but 80% of their depths have never been explored. Only a fraction of ocean species have been discovered. Oceans provide much of the oxygen we breathe as they cool the planet. But the vastness of the oceans tends to make us think they can take whatever we throw at them, like eight million metric tons of plastic waste. And actually, the oceans are in danger. Industrial and agricultural waste, oil spills, and sewage make the water toxic for sea life; sea level rise from climate change threatens the coasts; a third of fish stock are overfished…. Once this pandemic is over, we need to build back better, pursuing a Blue Recovery that could mean a lot of great new products and opportunities, cool inventions, brilliant discoveries, and healthy oceans.

The ocean economy is different from the Blue Economy. The Blue Economy means sustainable use of the ocean resources: fishing, but not overfishing; beach recreation and tourism minus the 14,000 tons of sunscreen that poison the water; using ships to carry goods back and forth without oil spills or picking up invasive species from one part of the world in ballast water and dumping them on the other side to mess up the ecosystem. Or Seabased’s favorite—getting power from the ocean in a way that can actually help the ocean environment.

 So we thought we’d look at just a few of the exciting plans for a Blue Recovery:

Clearing the oceans of plastic

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France. Though many countries have moratoriums against dumping trash in the ocean, not all are compliant and some allow their ships to dump trash at sea. A nonprofit called the Ocean Cleanup set out to clean up the garbage patch. After a year or so of false starts, they finally brought in their first haul of 60 cubic meters from the garbage patch, from large debris to microplastics, in January 2020. They believe they could have half the garbage patch cleared out in five years. They’ve also created the Interceptor which intercepts garbage at the mouth of rivers and feeds it into a solar-powered marine shuttle that can collect up to 100,000 kg of trash a day. The company plans to park an Interceptor at the mouth of the 1,000 rivers that create 80% of the waste. Once the plastic is cleaned from the ocean, it could be fed to giant maggot-like waxworms that live on the wax in beehives and  are able to digest plastic. But it won’t, because it’s actually quite valuable.

Recycling Ocean Waste

“Polyethylene is a high-quality resin that can be up-cycled in many ways and can fetch up to $500 per tonne,” according to biologist Tracy Mincer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. That cast-off water bottle is actually valuable to someone who can use it to make everything from sunglasses to athleisurewear. You can easily find lists of cool new companies using recycled ocean waste, much of which is plastic. Even very big companies are getting in on the action.

Adidas has a pair of shoes, Coca Cola has a soda bottle, and Patagonia has been making polyester fleeces out of recycled plastic since 1993. Companies like Oceanworks sell the plastic itself, ready to be made into something else. Ocean Waste Plastics forms recycled ocean plastic into packaging.

And it’s not all about plastic trash, either. Bureo makes everything from office chairs to skateboards out of recycled fishing nets.  

Sustainable Marine Tourism

Tourism has shrunk considerably during COVID-19, letting many people experience their communities in a whole new way—beaches and streets you can actually move around in, cleaner air, less trash…. In ocean areas, touristic boats can damage corals, touristic skin care products can poison the water, and in many places, tourists tend to litter the waters and the beaches. However tourism also provides one out of 10 jobs globally and tourism can help in lower income areas and boost the economic conditions of women and artisans. In the World Bank’s 20 Reasons Sustainable Tourism Counts for Development they wrote: “Tourism accounts for an estimated 26% of ocean-based economic activity, and much of the projected growth of global tourism will be coastal and marine. Many countries that rely on ocean-based tourism have recognized the importance of protecting their coastlines, coral reefs, marine biodiversity, beaches, and waters.”

The key is to focus on sustainable tourism going forward—examining ways to incorporate ecotourism into the design strategy. For example, instead of treating spa water with chemicals, using sea or saltwater; using hydro-powered boats instead of gasoline ones; creating boundaries around reefs and other fragile ecosystems; imposing steep fines for littering; and reducing the amount of single-use plastics and paper.

Desalinating water for people

Desalination is removing the salt from ocean water. Currently, according to the EU’s 2020 Blue Economy Report it is used to overcome water shortages in places with limited freshwater resources-- big coastal cities and islands as well as for offshore industrial processes where high salinity makes seawater unusable. The Blue Economy report said that there were 1,573 operational desalination plants in the EU in 2019 producing a total of 6.9 cubic meters a day of fresh water from seawater and brackish water. Most of it goes to public water supplies managed by municipalities, the rest is for industrial and irrigation purposes.

It’s expected that as climate change reduces the availability of water, desalination will become even more crucial. Many EU regions are expected to face severe water scarcity by 2050. Coastal desalina­tion processes require 18 terawatt hours of energy each year and nearly 40% of the energy demand for desalination processes comes from European islands. The Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative calls for viable technological solutions to power desalination with renewable energy, which Seabased can do as part of providing CO2-free energy.  

Providing clean energy from ocean power

Ocean energy could power the world. Water is 800 times denser than air which means that it embodies an enormous amount of energy. And ocean waves are predictable: they work 24/7, 365 days a year. While the wind moves quickly and can change just as quickly, ocean waves take longer to build and longer to subside so it’s easier to know what the wave height and power will be. Ocean Energy Europe predicts that by 2050, ocean energy will be providing 10% of Europe’s energy and 400,000 jobs.

By the very fact that this is a nascent industry, it means many jobs will be created to bring it to fruition. And that’s the very definition of a Blue Recovery.

Redesigning how things are done to protect the oceans while using their resources can inspire the creation of new technologies, new solutions, even new industries, and create jobs while fighting against climate change. But it takes money, imagination, and political will. In its report, Financing and Investment for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the Organization for Co-Operation and Economic Development notes:  “The challenge is…significant, requiring scaling up investment in sustainable ocean activities and reallocating capital away from harmful or unsustainable activities…. many ocean sectors are inherently risky compared to their land-based counterparts, because the ocean is a harsh and often remote physical environment. This can make attracting finance for ocean investment difficult and costly, even before integrating the additional risk posed by some sustainable activities, for example due to new technology and business models.”

The report recommends governments create policy frameworks around ownership of ocean assets, improving the underlying investment climate, using public funding to mitigate the risk of private sector capital, and creating new financing models and incentives toward sustainability, like carbon credits related to conservation of coastal ecosystems.

The oceans are abundant with benefits for humans; we have to decide whether they stay that way.