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Small Island Renewable Energy

Tasmanian Wind Farm	Inter-Island Solar, Hawaii

GENI Report on Renewable Energy Potential of Small Island States (721k pdf)
Dec 2008 - Alvaro Garcia - Global Energy Network Institute

Other Reports on Renewable Energy Potential of Small Island States


• List of Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
  
  
• Low-Carbon Development Strategies for the Caribbean
  Nov, 2013 - WolrdWatch Institute - worldwatch.org
  
  Worldwatch's Sustainable Energy Roadmaps for Small-Island States of the Caribbean aim to develop and communicate low-carbon energy strategies that empower these countries to reduce their consumption of, and dependence on, fossil fuel imports.
  
  
• NRG Energy completes first two solar energy projects with the Clinton Foundation in Haiti
  Mar 22, 2012 - Anne Zimmermann - pv-tech.org
  
  Former president Bill Clinton and NRG Energy’s president David Crane visited Haiti to examine the progress of the solar power installations built in partnership with the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF).
  
  
• Eigg Electric
  Mar 21, 2012 - isleofeigg.net
  
  On 1st February 2008, the Isle of Eigg entered a new era, with the switching on of our island electrification project, which makes 24 hour power available for the first time to all residents and businesses on the island.
  
  
• Electricity through solar energy for 6 islands
  Feb 2, 2012 - Ahmed Rishan - haveeru.com.mv
  
  Renewable Energy Maldives (REM) together with the State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) kick started a project yesterday, to generate electricity using solar energy in 6 islands in Male' atoll.
  
  
• U.S. Virgin Islands Makes Aggressive Energy Pledge at NREL
  Mar 1, 2010 - NREL
  
  The U.S. Virgin Islands can reduce its reliance on  fossil fuels by 60% within the next 15 years by developing its abundant renewable energy resources, Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. announced at a workshop at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
  
  
• Energy PLAN Advanced Energy Systems Analysis Computer Model (pdf)
  Dec 2007 - Henrik Lund - Aalborg University - Denmark
  
  The Energy PLAN model has been developed and expanded into the version 7.0 in the period since year 1999. Initially, the model was developed by Henrik Lund and implemented in an EXCEL spreadsheet. Very soon, the model grew huge…
  
  
• An Economic Assessment of Renewable Energy Options for Rural Electrification in Pacific Island Countries (pdf)
  Feb 2007 - Allison Woodruff - SOPAC Technical Report 397
  
  Currently, Pacific Islands are heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels for meeting the bulk of their energy needs. However, this situation is likely to be unsustainable in the long run with rising fuel costs and the growing trade deficits faced by many Pacific Island Countries. Renewable energy technologies, used in a number of demonstration projects, including solar, wind, hydropower and coconut biofuel have proven to be technically feasible options for electricity production in remote locations in recent years,. Furthermore, the results from this study indicate that renewable energy technologies can provide a cost-effective means of supplying electricity to rural areas, where distances are high, and population densities and per capita demand for energy is low.
  
  
• Renewable Energy Essential for Well-being of Small Island Developing States
  May 8, 2006 - UN Economic and Social Council, ENV/DEV/893
  
  Dependence on Imported Fuels Significant Challenge for Small Islands; Positive Initiatives Include Biofuel, Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Hydropower.
  Renewable energy was not an option but a must for small island developing States, who were heavily oil-dependent for their energy supply and were the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the Commission on Sustainable Development was told today, as it began the second of its two-week session.
  
  
• 100% Renewable Energy Islands
  Apr 15, 2004 - Partnership for Sustainable Development
  
  The objective is to assist island states to meet 100% of their energy requirements from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) by helping them with the preparation & planning, organization and all the inputs (technical, financial & managerial) required for implementation of the 100% RES plan. By helping several SIDS to use 100% RES for their energy supply, this partnership will result in * Island states stopping the use of fossil fuels and the environmental damage caused by these fuels. * Meeting their energy needs from locally available renewable sources in a sustainable manner. * Local manufacture of RE equipment creating employment & income generation leading to poverty reduction.
  
  
• Renewable Energy on Small Islands (pdf)
  Aug 2000 - Thomas Lynge Jensen - The Forum for Energy and Development (FED)
  
  The first edition of Renewable Energy on Small Islands was published in April 1998 and was financed by the Danish Council for Sustainable Energy. 1 The background for the report was the decision by the Danish Government to establish an official Renewable Energy Island (REI) i.e. an island that will become 100% self-sufficient from renewable energy sources. In November 1997, Samoa was selected among 5 candidates to become the official Danish REI. The objective of the overview of renewable energy on small islands was to prepare for future global co-operation and networking among REI's.
  
  This second edition includes new cases and updated information on cases from the first edition. In relation to some of the cases from the first edition, it has not been possible to obtain updated Information. These cases are summarized in appendix 1 of this second edition.
  
  http://www.cler.org/predac/IMG/pdf/doc-52.pdf
  
  

  Specific Island Articles

• Two federal agencies join V.I. in renewable energy project
  Feb 22, 2010 - Constance Cooper- The Virgin Island Daily News
  
  The Virgin Islands and U.S. departments of Energy and Interior have entered into an agreement to move the territory away from its dependence on fossil fuels.
  
  
• Schneider Power Advances Two Caribbean Wind Projects
  Feb 1, 2010 - Energy Central
  
  In two separate developments, Schneider Power Caribbean Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Schneider Power Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SNE) today announced the achievement of important new milestones on respective wind projects in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.
  
  
• Hawaii on track toward renewable power goal
  Jan 28, 2010 - Mark Niesse - The Associated Press
  
  Two years into Hawaii's ambitious project of vastly increasing the amount of power it gets from renewable sources, state leaders say the islands are on track.
  
  
• Government exploring renewable energy
  Nov 13, 2009 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Cayman Net News, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
  
  The Cayman Islands government will pursue renewable energy as a means of diversifying the Islands' generating sources, reducing energy bills, and minimizing impact on the environment.
  
  
• Lana'i: An Inside Look at the World's Most Advanced Renewable Energy Micro Grid
  Nov 12, 2009 - Webinar - SEPA
  
  La Ola, Hawaii's largest solar photovoltaic (PV) farm and Micro-Grid on the island of Lana'i is expected to produce enough solar energy to supply up to 30 percent of the island's electric demand. The 1.2 megawatt (MW) solar PV installation sits on a 10 acre site and is the first photovoltaic power plant to be controlled remotely by a utility, Maui Electric Company, Ltd. (MECO). This presentation will provide an inside look at innovative design and hardware elements that have enabled Maui Electric to deploy a stable and highly controllable Micro Grid solution built on a framework of solar energy production.
  
  
• Trinidad to develop renewable energy industry
  Apr 9, 2009 - The Associated Press
  
  Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean's top exporter of oil and natural gas, plans to finance a renewable energy industry that would help diversify its economy as falling oil prices slash public income, a top energy official said Thursday.
  
  
• Wind farms speed up on Molokai and Lanai
  Mar 18, 2009 - Mark Niesse - The Associated Press
  
  Three energy companies announced plans Tuesday to team up and build wind farms on Hawaii's more rural islands to feed electricity to the urban core in Honolulu.
  
  
• Tiny Tuvalu says all its energy renewable by 2020
  Jul 19, 2009 - Michael Casey - The Associated Press
  
  The tiny island nation of Tuvalu, already under threat from rising seas caused by global warming, vowed Sunday to do its part for climate change by fueling its economy entirely from renewable sources by 2020.
  
  
• Dominican Republic strengthens commitment to renewable energy
  Jan 30, 2009 - energycentral.com
  
  The Dominican government has further demonstrated its commitment to sustainable development by signing an agreement with U.S. firm Sunovia Energy Technologies for the installation of the country's first solar energy plant.
  
  
• The Electricity Regulatory Authority of the Cayman Islands approves new Consumer Owned Renewable Energy Tariff
  Jan. 14, 2009 - Canada NewsWire
  
  GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands - Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd. ("CUC") and the Cayman Islands Electricity Regulatory Authority ("ERA") announced today that a program has been approved which will allow customers in Grand Cayman to connect renewable energy systems to CUC's distribution system and to reduce their monthly energy bills by generating their own power from renewable energy while remaining connected to CUC's grid.
  
  
• Pacific Islands countries switch to renewable energy source due to increasing fuel prices
  Oct 17, 2008 - Xinhua
  
  The high cost of fuel forced the Pacific Islands Countries turn to alternative renewable energy sources. "There is a clear demand for renewable energy in light of the growing fuel prices in recent times," said Solomone Fifita, manager of the Pacific Islands Greenhouse Gas Abatement through Renewable Energy Project (PIGGAREP) based at the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Program (SPREP).
  
  
• Welcome to Eigg: The World's First Fully Self-Sufficient Island
  Apr 1, 2008 - Jeremy Elton Jacquot - Treehugger.com
  
  If you've been looking for the ideal travel location in which to truly indulge your newfound eco-ethos, then look no further than the beautiful Isle of Eigg - a small island located off the coast of Scotland. Yes, through a mix of ingenuity and sheer will, the island's residents have managed to go completely off-grid - relying on a £1.6m system that draws power from a mix of local wind, solar and hydroelectric energy sources.
  
  
• Dominica to use geothermal energy to reduce electricity costs
  Mar 24, 2008 - BBC Monitoring
  
  Dominica says it intends to fully exploit the geothermal potential of the island so as to transform its economy and improve the lives of its citizens.
  
  
• Bonaire set to become Caribbean's first island with 100% renewable energy
  Mar 4, 2008 - renewableenergyworld.com
  
  Late in November 2007 the Dutch-German consortium EcoPower Bonaire BV announced the signing of a contract with the Water and Energy Company of Bonaire to build and operate a sophisticated new sustainable wind-diesel power plant. From the end of 2009 the power plant is to supply the small Caribbean island with 10 MW wind capacity supplemented by 13 MW (bio)diesel power. Eize de Vries talked with Dirk Berkhout, a board member of EcoPower partner Econcern, about the project and its potential as a model for other island or remote regions.
  
  
• A Large Wind Power System in Almost Island Operation-A Danish Case...
  Aug 2007 - Akhmatov, V; Eriksen, P.B.-IEEE- IEEE Transactions on Power Systems Volume 22, Issue 3, Pgs 937 - 943
  
  Summary: In Denmark, wind power incorporation into the power system is increasing whereas power generation from the large conventional power plants is decreasing. The common concern has become maintenance of reliable and stable operation of the Danish power system with a large amount of wind power - the large wind power system. At present, maintaining the voltage stability of such a large wind power system relies on strong AC connections to neighboring power systems with sufficient reactive power and voltage control and on control of central power plants in Denmark. This paper presents the results of a stability investigation carried out by the Danish transmission system operator (TSO), Energinet.dk, for the case of almost island operation of the Western Danish wind power system.
  
  The main ac lines connecting Western Denmark to the synchronous area of the Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE) were out of service and the wind power generation was high. The investigation has shown that the reactive power and voltage control of the domestic power plants is essential for maintaining short-term voltage stability of the Western Danish wind power system and becomes even more relevant when AC connections to the strong transmission system of the UCTE are out of service. The results presented in this paper may also be relevant for the operators of the power systems that are in island AC operation and with plans for significant commissioning of wind power - Great Britain, Ireland, Tasmania, etc.
  
  
• Renewable energy - an isle struggle
  Apr 9, 2007 - Mark Niesse - Associated Press - Star Bulletin
  
  Hawaii - Down a dirt road on America's southernmost island, 16 windmills tilt their sleek blades toward the ocean, as dependent on the whims of Hawaii's tropical breeze as residents are on the electricity they help produce. The Hawaii wind farm on the Big Island makes clean and affordable energy, but the 100-foot-tall wind turbines stop when the air is still. Most forms of renewable energy face a similar difficulty nationwide: They are cleaner than oil and coal but fall short on reliability and convenience." Everyone is trying to increase their renewable energy," said Greg Barbour, lead technician at the Big Island wind farm, which can generate enough electricity for more than 1,200 homes. "Demand for power keeps going up, not down. At some point in time, something will have to be done." Hawaii seems like a perfect candidate for energy independence because its Pacific gusts, ample sunlight and a continuously erupting volcano can be used to make natural electricity. Its fertile soil also holds potential for biofuel.
  
  
• Islands powered solely by Renewables
  Mar 27, 2007 - World Business Council for Sustainable Development
  
  El Hierro, one of the smallest of Spain's Canary Islands, is to receive 100 percent of its electricity supply from renewable energy sources, the Madrid government said. As part of a plan through to 2009, El Hierro will soon be able to rely on a combination of hydroelectricity and wind power to generate its electricity, the industry ministry said. ‘El Hierro will be the first island in the world totally supplied by renewable energy,' the ministry said, without specifying when the scheme would actually be up and running. The island will rely on a system involving two reservoirs to power hydroelectric stations, a wind farm and a pumping system.
  
  
• Dominica government outlines energy strategy
  Apr 26, 2006 - caribbeannetnews.com
  
  ROSEAU, Dominica: The Permanent Secretary in Dominica's Ministry of Housing, Lands, Telecommunications, Energy and Ports, Dr Colmore Christian, has outlined the government's strategy to harness the country's renewable energy resources, mainly geothermal and wind, in response to the escalating price of oil on the world market and the need to pursue reliable and affordable sources of energy.
  
  
• New Developments: HECO Renewable Energy
  2003 - Hawaiian Electric Company
  
  HECO completed a one-year wind data monitoring project to verify the wind energy potential for a wind generation project. Data was encouraging and a utility-scale wind farm was deemed feasible.
  
  
• Huge Step for Islands
  1999 Thomas Lynge Jensen - Global Island Secretariat, Denmark
  
  Global Secretariat for Renewable Energy Islands. The Forum for Energy and Development (FED), a Danish NGO umbrella organisation, has now established a secretariat for renewable energy islands. This major step was based on the recommendations of the "First Global Conference on Renewable Energy Islands" in September 1999 on Ærø Island in Denmark. The delegates from 22 organisations and 34 islands of the world called for a forum for the renewable energy issues of the islands. The need to develop the renewable-energy sector of island-state economies was also in line with the Program of Action agreed upon in Barbados by the 1994 "Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS)."
  
  
• Renewable Energy on Small Islands
  Apr 1998 - Thomas Lynge Jensen - Tiempo Climate Cyber library - Tiempo, Issue 32
  
  In its 1996 energy action plan, Energy 21, the Danish Government decided that a Danish island should be used as a demonstration for its Renewable Energy Islands Project. The intent was that a renewable energy island should be 100 per cent self-sufficient from renewable energy sources, including transportation, within ten years. The Danish island Samsoe was selected to become the official demonstration site. The Danish Council for Sustainable Energy found the renewable energy island concept a good starting point for exchange of experience and information and global cooperation. The Council asked the Danish non-governmental organization, the Forum for Energy and Development (FED), to initiate a global mapping of renewable energy developments on small islands. The primary focus was on modern renewable energy technologies on islands with a size below 500 square kilometers. Most small islands around the world today are dependent on imported fossil fuels for the majority of their energy needs, especially for transport and electricity production. In the Caribbean, for example, petroleum imports are responsible for more than 75 per cent of primary energy demand and on the insular islands of the European Union oil accounts for approximately 90 per cent of the primary energy demand. The report Renewable Energy on Small Islands is available from: Thomas Lynge Jensen, Forum for Energy and Development, Landgreven 7, 1301 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Fax: 45-33-121308. Email: tlj@inforse.org. Web: http://www.inforse.dk/s_e_news_art.php3?id=250%20
  

Related GENI Resources

Definition Bioenergy

Renewable Energy Resource Maps

National Energy Grid Maps

GENI Transmission Library

Links

IREC Connecting to the Grid (Interstate Renewable Energy Council)

CIGRE: International Congress on Large High-Voltage Electric Systems

IEEE/PES International Practices Committee panel sessions