Small Pacific island nations and territories generally have small populations and rather tiny energy demands. Despite this fact, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that these places are expected to account for 17% of the world’s new renewable energy installed over the next 5 years.
The Pacific region gets 80% of its electricity from imported fossil fuels and today’s energy prices are extremely high. In fact, Pacific nations, on average, spend more than 10% of their GDP and 25% of their import dollars on diesel fuel alone.
Recently, a Pacific Energy Summit was held in Auckland, New Zealand to discuss 79 new projects devoted to developing renewable energy in the Pacific islands. Representatives of 24 nations and territories agreed that clean, affordable and efficient new energy services are essential for the sustainable development of the region.
Planned projects include hydropower plants, solar power plants, wind farms, biofuel plants, and investments in energy efficiency. New Zealand-based ARGOenvironmental is negotiating a power purchase agreement for a 1 megawatt wave generation project in the Kingdom of Tonga. Currently, Tonga Power pays over a dollar a kilowatt hour to produce electricity from diesel. The wave-generated electricity would be provided at roughly 21 cents per kilowatt hour.
The energy-starved Pacific nations are attracting renewable developers from around the world. It is a region with abundant resources of sunshine, wind, and water. In an era of growing climate change, these nations are looking to exploit these resources and end their dependence on fossil fuels.
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Web Links
Pacific Energy Summit
http://www.pacificenergysummit2013.com
Photo, taken on October 14, 2011, courtesy of Atanas Kumbarov via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.