Islands’ Energy Transition League – a progress report on decarbonising island power systems

This study reports how 29 islands and island groups across the globe are navigating the energy transition, based partly on a survey of grid operators and other authorities in order to explore the challenges and benefits of renewable energy. The islands are both interconnected and non-interconnected and cover a broad spectrum of sizes, local resources and electricity consumption. For electricity production, key observations include: 1) a mixture of technologies based on different renewable energy sources is the best way to attain high penetration of renewable energy and to optimise local value; 2) there is currently insufficient energy storage on most non-interconnected islands to completely phase out fossil fuels, whilst interconnected islands without storage are vulnerable to price, resilience and energy security issues; 3) the integration of green electricity with transport, heating and industry is yet to begin in earnest. An important conclusion is that renewable energy lowers the cost of electricity on islands.