This presentation is an update of islands’ progress towards self-sufficiency in sustainable energy, a year after Quirk et al.’s (2024) review at the 8th International Hybrid Power Plants & Systems Workshop. The aim is to see whether empirical data on the different approaches taken by the various islands help identify effective options for decarbonising an island’s power system, whether an isolated system or interconnected.

A number of new islands have been added to the list, including in the Pacific region.

After assessing the degree to which last year’s findings are still valid, new analyses include:

1) The amount that generating capacity should be oversized based on:

• the share of renewables compared to thermal power plants at the installed/nameplate capacity level (MW/MW);
• the share of renewables compared to thermal power plants at the production stage (MWh/MWh per year);
• baseload, average power and peak power ratios;
• whether the island is interconnected or not;
• energy storage capacity.

2) The optimum energy storage in terms of total capacity and charge-discharge power.

3) The theoretical versus actual capacity factors of wind and solar.

4) Correlations between the degree of automation and the share of renewable power generation.

5) The economic value of renewable energy and means of financing the investments.

6) The effect of geographical, environmental and social factors such as land and sea territorial areas, elevations and bathymetries, climate, population density and public acceptance.

Now that many islands have reached or are approaching more than 50% renewable electricity, a set of recommended next steps will also be presented.

We would like to keep the energy database evergreen and so extend an invitation to other island authorities to help expand the compilation with new information.

Reference
Quirk, D.G., Mendonça, F., Henriques, F., Jørgensen, T., Lahtimo, M., Figueira, A., Tróndheim, H., Nielsen, T., Nordberg, C., Davies, G., Fraser, L., Østergaard, P.A., Lund, H., Kristensen, M., Hermansen, S., Cowin, A. & Peake, R., 2024. Energy transition league: A comparison of islands’ paths to net zero emissions. Proceedings of 8th International Hybrid Power Plants & Systems Workshop (HYB 2024), Azores, pp.65-74. 10.1049/icp.2024.1820