This article summarises the status of renewable energy in Oceania.
The Pacific island nations are heavily dependent on costly fossil fuel imports, [1] so they are turning, to varying degrees, to renewable energy. Options include household photovoltaic (PV) systems and hydroelectricity on the hillier islands. [2]
The percentage of renewable electricity generation increased from 59% in 2013 to 65% in 2016. [3] The Fiji Electricity Authority hopes to generate 81% renewably by 2020, from hydropower (c. 50% currently), biomass, solar energy and wind power. [2]
Renewable electricity generation grew from <1% in 2013 to 5% in 2016. [3]
Renewable electricity generation grew from 16% in 2013 to 29% in 2016. [3]
Renewable electricity generation has risen from 0% in 2013 to 5% in 2016. [3]
Over 350 household solar systems were installed on Yap's outer islands. [3]
Renewable electricity generation grew from 0.2% in 2013 to 10% in 2016. [3]
Renewable electricity generation accounts for <1% as of 2016. [3]
Renewable electricity generation grew from <1% in 2013 to 3.2% in 2016. [3]
Renewable electricity generation grew from 0.4% in 2013 to 2.3% in 2016. [3]
The percentage of renewable electricity generation grew from 3% in 2013 to 15% in 2016. [3] Four PV-diesel hybrid systems are scheduled to be installed in the outer islands by mid-2017. [3]
Renewable electricity generation grew 2.5% in 2013 to 9% in 2016. [3]
Between 2013 and 2016, renewable generation capacity grew from 7.5 MW to 15.4 MW, mostly due to solar energy systems, but also due to two wind turbines. [3] Apolima became the first 100% renewable Pacific island. [3]
Almost 100% of renewable generation is due to solar PV systems. [3]
In 2000, 75% of Tonga's energy came from petroleum imports, with biomass and photovoltaic systems accounting for the remainder. [4] In April 2009, the government of Tonga sought to reduce this costly petroleum dependency by developing a plan, subsequently called the Tonga Energy Road Map 2010 – 2020 (TERM). [2] [4]
Renewable electricity generation is expected to grow from 5.4% in 2013 to 13% in 2018. [3]
Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
For solar power, South Asia has the ideal combination of both high solar insolation and a high density of potential customers.
In Honduras, there is an important potential of untapped indigenous renewable energy resources. Due to the variability of high oil prices and declining renewable infrastructure costs, such resources could be developed at competitive prices.
A feed-in tariff is a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers. This means promising renewable energy producers an above-market price and providing price certainty and long-term contracts that help finance renewable energy investments. Typically, FITs award different prices to different sources of renewable energy in order to encourage the development of one technology over another. For example, technologies such as wind power and solar PV are awarded a higher price per kWh than tidal power. FITs often include a "digression": a gradual decrease of the price or tariff in order to follow and encourage technological cost reductions.
Renewable energy in Spain, comprising bioenergy, wind, solar, and hydro sources, accounted for 15.0% of the Total Energy Supply (TES) in 2019. Oil was the largest contributor at 42.4% of the TES, followed by gas, which made up 25.4%.
Solar power has been growing rapidly in the U.S. state of California because of high insolation, community support, declining solar costs, and a renewable portfolio standard which requires that 60% of California's electricity come from renewable resources by 2030, with 100% by 2045. Much of this is expected to come from solar power via photovoltaic facilities or concentrated solar power facilities.
Energy in Belgium describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Belgium.
Renewable energy in Tuvalu is a growing sector of the country's energy supply. Tuvalu has committed to sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewable energy. This is considered possible because of the small size of the population of Tuvalu and its abundant solar energy resources due to its tropical location. It is somewhat complicated because Tuvalu consists of nine inhabited islands. The Tuvalu National Energy Policy (TNEP) was formulated in 2009, and the Energy Strategic Action Plan defines and directs current and future energy developments so that Tuvalu can achieve the ambitious target of 100% renewable energy for power generation by 2020. The program is expected to cost 20 million US dollars and is supported by the e8, a group of 10 electric companies from G8 countries. The Government of Tuvalu worked with the e8 group to develop the Tuvalu Solar Power Project, which is a 40 kW grid-connected solar system that is intended to provide about 5% of Funafuti’s peak demand, and 3% of the Tuvalu Electricity Corporation's annual household consumption.
The energy sector in Hawaii has rapidly adopted solar power due to the high costs of electricity, and good solar resources, and has one of the highest per capita rates of solar power in the United States. Hawaii's imported energy costs, mostly for imported petroleum and coal, are three to four times higher than the mainland, so Hawaii has motivation to become one of the highest users of solar energy. Hawaii was the first state in the United States to reach grid parity for photovoltaics. Its tropical location provides abundant ambient energy.
Energy in Malta describes energy production, consumption and import in Malta. Malta has no domestic resource of fossil fuels and no gas distribution network, and relies overwhelmingly on imports of fossil fuels and electricity to cover its energy needs. Since 2015, the Malta–Sicily interconnector allows Malta to be connected to the European power grid and import a significant share of its electricity.
Energy in Greece is dominated by fossil gas and oil. Electricity generation is dominated by the one third state owned Public Power Corporation. In 2009 DEI supplied for 85.6% of all electric energy demand in Greece, while the number fell to 77.3% in 2010. Almost half (48%) of DEI's power output in 2010 was generated using lignite. 12% of Greece's electricity comes from hydroelectric power plants and another 20% from natural gas. Between 2009 and 2010, independent companies' energy production increased by 56%, from 2,709 Gigawatt hour in 2009 to 4,232 GWh in 2010.
Renewable energy has developed rapidly in Italy over the past decade and provided the country a means of diversifying from its historical dependency on imported fuels. Solar power accounted for around 8% of the total electric production in the country in 2014, making Italy the country with the highest contribution from solar energy in the world that year. Rapid growth in the deployment of solar, wind and bio energy in recent years lead to Italy producing over 40% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2014.
Solar power in Mexico has the potential to produce vast amounts of energy. 70% of the country has an insolation of greater than 4.5 kWh/m2/day. Using 15% efficient photovoltaics, a square 25 km (16 mi) on each side in the state of Chihuahua or the Sonoran Desert could supply all of Mexico's electricity.
Solar power in South Africa includes photovoltaics (PV) as well as concentrated solar power (CSP). As of 2023, South Africa had over 2700 MW of installed PV solar power capacity in its grid, in addition to 500 MW of CSP. Installed capacity is expected to reach 8,400 MW by 2030.
Energy in the U.S. state of Hawaii is produced from a mixture of fossil fuel and renewable resources. Producing energy is complicated by the state's isolated location and lack of fossil fuel resources. The state relies heavily on imports of petroleum. Hawaii has the highest share of petroleum use in the United States, with about 62% of electricity coming from oil in 2017. As of 2021 renewable energy made up 34.5% on Oahu, Maui and the island of Hawaii.
Under its commitment to the EU renewable energy directive of 2009, France has a target of producing 23% of its total energy needs from renewable energy by 2020. This figure breaks down to renewable energy providing 33% of energy used in the heating and cooling sector, 27% of the electricity sector and 10.5% in the transport sector. By the end of 2014, 14.3% of France's total energy requirements came from renewable energy, a rise from 9.6% in 2005.
Renewable energy in Greece accounted for 29 percent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2021. By 2030, renewables are expected to have a capacity of 28GW, and exceed 61 percent of Greece's electricity consumption. This is a significant increase from 8% of the country's total energy consumption in 2008. By 2022, Greece occasionally reached 100% renewables for a few hours. The target for 2050 is a capacity of 65GW.
The pattern of energy production and use in Guam is shaped by its location, a remote island. Almost all energy is reliant on imports of petroleum products for use in transport and electricity. Guam has no domestic production of conventional fuels such as oil, natural gas or coal. Its economy is dependent on the import of gasoline and jet fuel for transport and residual fuel oil for electricity. One third of electricity produced is used in commercial settings including the leading industry of tourism. Despite making up about one-tenth of the islands population, the U.S. military uses one-fifth of the island's energy.
In 2008, Net electricity use in Portugal was 51.2 TWh. Portugal imported 9 TWh electricity in 2008. Population was 10.6 million.
California produces more renewable energy than any other state in the United States except Texas. In 2018, California ranked first in the nation as a producer of electricity from solar, geothermal, and biomass resources and fourth in the nation in conventional hydroelectric power generation. As of 2017, over half of the electricity (52.7%) produced was from renewable sources.
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