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Articles on Small Island Renewable Energy

Tasmania Wind Farm	Inter-Island Solar, Hawaii

List of Small Island Developing States (UN Members)

List of Small Island Developing States

(Non-UN Members/Associate Members of the Regional Commissions)

• 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…
  
  http://energy.plan.aau.dk/EnergyPLAN-Version7-December2007
  
  
• 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.
  
  http://www.sopac.org/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=Rural+Renewable+Energy+Economics
  
  
• 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.
  
  http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/envdev893.doc.htm
  
  
• 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

• 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.
  
  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/reworld/story?id=51592
  
  
• 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.
  
  http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/59/4282002/04282004.pdf
  
  
• 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.
  
  http://starbulletin.com/2007/04/09/news/story06.html
  
  
• Islands powered solely by Renewables
  Mar 20, 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.
  
  http://www.thestreaming.info/development_crossing/2007/03/island_powered_.html
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Renewable Energy on Small Islands
  1999 - 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
  
  
• Huge Step for Islands
  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)."
  
  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 Internatioinal Practices Committee panel sessions