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.

Ten reasons ocean energy is good for the planet

When it comes to renewables, most people are familiar with the site of a bank of solar panels or a giant, white windmill on a hillside. Few outside the industry would recognize a wave energy converter (WEC) that resembles a giant fishing bobber, quietly turning the dense power of waves into electricity. But ocean energy technology is about to become part of the family of commercial renewables, and that’s a very good thing for the planet. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. Ocean energy could be the largest source of clean energy:

Wave energy is a staggering global resource. As noted by Ocean Energy Europe, wave energy has the potential to be the largest source of clean energy on the planet. Estimates of the power that could be produced range from 4,000 terawatt hours per year (TWh/yr) to 29,500 TWh/yr. Europe consumes around 3,000TWh/year.

2. Ocean energy does not harm the land or water:

Extracting energy often involves ripping apart mountains, drilling deep in the ground or seabed, injecting substances into the earth, and creating toxic byproducts like tailings, fracking water, and nuclear waste. Ocean energy, though, doesn’t extract energy from its environment in a brutal way. It simply harnesses the energy that is already pulsing through the ocean. Nothing in Seabased’s technology, for example, is a permanent installation. Generators rest on the ocean floor---they’re not drilled in. They’re connected by cable to buoys that sit on top of the water, generally below the sightline from the shore. And like other ocean energy technologies, wave energy emits no CO2, it requires no fuel, and produces no waste.

3. Ocean energy eases integration of renewables into the grid:

One big reason the world doesn’t already run on renewables is that renewables are variable—the sun goes down; the wind dies down. In fact, globally today only 9% of the power on the grid comes from variable renewables. Waves are variable, but much less so. Grid operators can better predict much better how much power they will be able to channel from wave-to-grid than with some other renewables. So, wave energy is more grid-friendly. 

4. Ocean energy helps the earth’s carbon problem:

Replacing fossil fuels with ocean energy would reduce CO2, because ocean energy doesn’t produce CO2. Most of us understand that CO2 causes a dangerous warming of the planet. What we may not realize is that it’s the ocean’s job to absorb a lot of that carbon so the planet doesn’t get too hot. And we’re making that job harder. People sometimes talk about the Amazon Rainforest as the “lungs” of the Earth. Plants take in CO2, and breathe out oxygen, so anyplace there’s an abundance of plants, that place creates oxygen for us. But much more oxygen—up to 80%--is produced in the oceans, largely by plants like phytoplankton. The danger is when the oceans take on too much CO2—which is happening now. Too much CO2 causes the oceans to acidify; recent research shows that the oceans have actually absorbed twice as much CO2 as scientists previously calculated. Even before this research was published, scientists knew that sea life is struggling from low oxygen levels. While COVID-19 temporarily reduced the amount of CO2 we’re producing, the amount of carbon in our atmosphere is still at record levels. To regain health, oceans need to stop absorbing so much carbon. Adding ocean energy—a very powerful CO2-free source of energy— to the renewables mix, would help that a lot. The work oceans are already doing—via waves and tides—when harnessed would spare them from being overtaxed with coping with our carbon output.

5. Ocean energy is available where the carbon footprint is worst:

Some of the world’s most populous cities have the world’s highest per capita carbon footprint. They are also coastal. They have access to the power of the ocean in the form of waves and tides. If these communities embrace the opportunity of ocean energy, the resultant drop in CO2 would make a huge difference, not only for the clean air of those cities, but for the world.

6. Ocean energy is a great solution for islands:

Thousands of inhabited islands around the world depend on expensive, polluting, imported fossil fuels. Not having a local power source leaves these islands very energy insecure. Plus, the price they pay for electricity is usually much higher than mainland prices. If there’s one thing islands have in abundance—it’s ocean.

7. Ocean energy requires only a small footprint:

Many non-renewable and even renewable power generation stations take up a lot of land area, and can be considered as eyesores. NIMBY – “Not In My Back Yard” is a known challenge that extends also to renewables. This makes siting and building them complicated, both politically and in terms of finding the space. Wave energy produces a lot of power per square meter and takes up almost no land area— Seabased buoys float offshore, mostly out of sight. It only needs a small space for the electrical power to connect to the grid.

8. Ocean energy is gentle on its environment:

One of the key goals Seabased had in mind in the original design of wave energy parks was that they would be good for the ecosystem they operated in. They would do no harm to the seabed, to the water the parks operate in, or to the sea life around and within the parks. Consequently, there is nothing in the parks that can hurt sea creatures. There are no nets, blades, or moving parts that endanger sea animals. There are no toxins. There is minimal noise, which research suggests does not disturb sea life. And there is little need for humans to maintain the parks once they’re established, so the environment is left at peace during operation.

9. Ocean energy can help the ecosystem:

Several researchers have found that the wave energy parks actually encourage biodiversity at certain sites. Seabased generally installs wave energy converters (WEC) on an area of barren sea floor; a desert in the ocean, if you will. Few species can dwell in this environment. By adding the WECs--some of which have been designed with various-sized holes in their concrete bases to serve as habitats—the wave energy generators became artificial reefs where certain species can find comfortable living. This more diverse habitat increased biodiversity in some parks. Because fishing isn’t possible among the WECs, some species were able to reproduce and increase their numbers, even spilling outside the parks where fishing was possible, according to one study. One of these was the Norway Lobster, also known as scampi, langoustine, or the Dublin Bay Prawn, which is Europe’s most valuable crustacean.

10. Ocean energy can serve many functions:

Wave energy is a technology intended for utility-scale power production, but it’s also very versatile. It can be used for smaller projects—like aquaculture. It can be used to desalinate water for coastal communities, for hydrogen production, or even to power charging stations for electric cars.

Seventy percent of the globe is covered by ocean. Ocean energy is the most ubiquitous, potentially most powerful form of renewable that exists. And we can harness it without hurting the ocean and while helping the planet and the humans. That’s a goal worth attaining.