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.