Island Power
Island states have particular requirements when it comes to energy generation that often make the conversion to renewables far from straightforward. Dr. Keith Bowen of Circadian Solar looks at the issues and explains what concentrated photovoltaics has to offer.
L
ike any number of the world’s small island developing states, Mauritius has a pressing interest in the successful global deployment of renewable energy.
When Navinchandra Ramgoolam, the island’s Prime
Minister, called upon the UN and developed nations to do more to curb carbon emissions, he was speaking from the climate change frontline. Rising sea levels and cyclonic weather systems that have become notably more extreme, have placed his island and its people at severe risk. What many regard as a holiday paradise may soon become a ghost resort, full of memories but with a dispersed population evacuated to safer shores. Nor is it just low-lying islands that have a vested interest
in easing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. In an interconnected energy system, islands are the last outcrop of the supply chain. And they tend to pay the price for it. The price per kilowatt hour in an off-grid system like Cyprus
– which has to import both oil and clean water – or the Canary Islands, usually far exceeds that enjoyed by mainland states. And the more remote the island, the further oil imports have to travel. But with limited native resources, and land space at a premium, there are often few opportunities for expanding conventional generating plant to ease the pressure. Power may be expensive, but for
In these circumstances renewables become commercially competitive and investment payback easier to secure. However, all this comes with a number of caveats. Regardless
of how evangelical individual developers become there is no getting away from the fact that there is no universally appropriate renewable energy source. What islands need is efficiency, both in terms of output from equipment and land used, and ease of use. They need to select the renewable energy source that will best provide both. At its simplest level, the choice will be dictated by climate.
In an interconnected energy system, islands are the last outcrop of the supply chain. And they tend to pay the price for it
islands with a significant tourist industry it is a cost they simply have to swallow. Eco-resorts have certainly grown in number in the last decade, but there is no denying that the tourist industry is an energy-intensive one. The more money a country derives from wealthy visitors, the more power it is likely to use. Given all these circumstances it is no wonder that island economies have become a target for developers of renewable energy. In particular the elevated cost of imported fuel associated with traditional thermal generation ensures that price parity between renewable and conventional sources – considered to be the closest thing to the Holy Grail in the world of sustainable energy production – is much easier to achieve.
Wind power may be the ideal solution in the Hebrides, less so in Cyprus. Conversely, basking in glorious sunshine, the islands of Polynesia may be ideally suited for the solar technologies that will produce little in the way of usable power in the Falklands. Interestingly, solar power from conventional photovoltaics degrades when ambient temperatures become too high, and wind turbines can go from maximum to zero output in seconds in extremely windy conditions. This is important because the more inconsistent or inefficient a plant’s output, the more elusive its return on investment will be. An island could be left with a whimsical, expensive folly rather than the anticipated source of virtually limitless, low-cost, clean power. Indeed each new plant will need to be built on careful
calculation of baseload and peakload requirements and an assessment of how best to deliver these. Nonetheless, the provision of baseload, the management of
intermittency and the resulting constitution of the energy mix are issues that any country must consider. But when it comes to islands there are other factors that create additional levels of complexity. The first is support and maintenance. Like conventional
power stations, most renewable energy plant is a considerable feat of engineering that requires an on-site, highly technical skill base. That level of mechanical expertise may not be readily available among island populations.
Impacts of Climate Change on SIDS It is well known and confirmed by the IPCC in all of its assessments that small island developing states (SIDS) – whether
located in the tropics or higher latitudes – have characteristics that make them especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. These characteristics include their limited size, geographical dislocation, proneness to natural hazards and external shocks, high exposure of population and infrastructure and limited adaptive capacity. The vulnerabilities resulting from
these characteristics are exacerbated by the effects of climate change – which include rising seas, acidification of oceans, coral bleaching, coastal erosion, flooding, loss of fresh water supplies, biodiversity loss and more frequent and intense weather events, including hurricanes.
94 worldPower 2010
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