Small and remote islands face special energy challenges because they are often isolated from the main energy grids of large countries and nearby continents.
These islands are mainly dependent on imported fossil fuels, which are expensive and unreliable for energy supply. Although they do not contribute much to global pollution, the islands are severely affected by climate change, including extreme weather events. High temperatures melt glaciers, which raises the world’s sea level, which further leads to problems for small island countries, as the coastline recedes and threatens the population.
Islands, especially small island developing States (SIDS), must upgrade their energy infrastructure to cope with higher temperatures, more frequent natural disasters and rising sea levels. Many of the islands’ power generation systems are old and unable to meet the growing demand for electricity due to economic growth and increased use of air conditioning due to extreme heat. One of the climate disasters was Hurricane Maria seven years ago, which left the population of the Dominican Republic without electricity for several months. This event is an illustration of how vulnerable island energy systems are to natural disasters and how important it is to improve infrastructure to improve resilience to such events.
Over 700 million people live on the islands, which is why this topic is important. Generating electricity on islands can be very expensive, sometimes ten times more expensive than on the mainland. For example, in 2021, island countries had the highest electricity costs in the world. In the Solomon Islands, electricity was almost seven times more expensive than in the United States, and in Caribbean countries electricity tariffs were more than twice the average in the US, according to a statement from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
A study of 36 small island economies found that most generate less than 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources, although many islands have the potential to be large solar producers. However, this requires additional technologies, such as battery energy storage systems to maintain grid stability, which is why there is a problem when it comes to this topic.
Efforts are already underway to implement these technologies on some islands. In Puerto Rico, for example, 1,000 solar panels will power 17 small businesses through a battery-backed community microgrid ready to provide power during natural disasters, the IEA said.
Increasing energy efficiency measures can also reduce energy costs and CO2 emissions – for example, the implementation of Fiji’s Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards and Labels (MEPSL) for appliances saved around 9.3 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity in one year, which is similar to the country’s solar power generation in 2021. Expanding the MEPSL program could enable buildings in Fiji to save 17 percent of their annual electricity demand by 2030, the report said.
Energy portal
Source: energetskiportal.rs
