Pacific Islands Consider Renewables, But Not Necessarily Offshore

This article, Renewable Energy Tops Pacific Island Power Talks,Scott Radway, Guampdn.com, (August 3, 2003) reports on recent Pacific Island power talks where participants expressed interest in moving away from fossil fuel towards renewable sources. The article describes that presently, fossil fuels are cheaper but increasing shipping costs may make renewables a less expensive alternative in the long run since a large part of these small countries' revenues (in some cases, 46 percent) is devoted to imported fossil fuels.

At the same time, those quoted in the article expressed reluctance about development of new technologies:

projects must be considered carefully and advised against having island countries becoming the guinea pigs for new technology that most times fails and leaves islands with little incentive to try again. Islands should employ the established technologies such as solar-, wind- and hydro-power, and slowly phase out fossil fuels, [Roper] said.

So although offshore wave and wind might offer possibilities given that islands are surrounded by waters, it appears that there may be a preference to wait while these newer offshore technologies become more established.