Going Renewable

Pacific island states take the lead in energy transformation

WITH the world going out in a large way towards adopting green and clean energy that is renewable, it makes no ecological or economic sense for any country in the Pacific not to be part of this exciting phenomenon.

For figures do not lie. More and more nations around the globe are switching to solar, wind or hydro energy. In fact in 2017 alone, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that an additional 167 GW of renewable capacity were installed around the world. That is enough capacity to power a country as big as Brazil.

The good news does not end there. With the increasing uptake of renewable, the costs are tumbling to record lows. Prices of solar PV module for instance have fallen by around 80% since the end of 2009, according to IRENA. Wind turbine prices on the other hand have dipped by 30 to 40%.

The agency calculates that prices of renewable can outmatch natural gas prices in fact. Abundant resources, coupled with strong enabling frameworks have caused solar PV prices to crash to below 3 cents per kilowatt hour and dispatchable concentrated solar power (CSP) of 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour.

Thanks to the foresight of island leaders and their policy advisers, some islands of the region are giants in this field. Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand to the north of Samoa, is already running on solar power 100 per cent. Samoa and the Cook Islands are almost there, with 80% of their energy needs now powered either through solar or hydro.

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