Lifting the curse

Our reliance on overseas diesel is a bit of a curse for this country and the more we can reduce that, the better off we will be.

Greenhouse gases. Carbon footprints. Melting glaciers. Drowned islands.
While the debate rages over the effects climate change will have on our grandchildren’s world, there is one inconvenient truth no one can dispute: the supply of fossil fuel is slowly and inexorably dwindling. Sun, wind, wave action, hydro – these are all renewable energy sources. Oil is not.
In a nation as dependant on the petro-chemical food chain as the Cook Islands, any spikes in the world price of a barrel of oil can be crippling. If our high energy costs are being offset now by a healthy tourism industry, what happens when the visitors stop arriving because their discretionary funds are being spent at the petrol pump instead of our resorts?
The sooner we wean ourselves from our diesel dependence, the brighter the future will be. Literally – because, according to the experts we talked to, solar power is the most viable option when it comes to renewable energy in the Cook Islands.
The National Energy Committee
James Beer is either the scariest person on the island, or the wisest.
As the chairman of the National Energy Committee, he talks of total devastation and sun-powered salvation, often in the same sentence.
“If we are to reduce the cost of living to Cook Islanders, we need to start reducing the cost of energy, first and foremost,” he says. “It has to be a national priority.”
Unfortunately, since the committee was struck in 2008, that priority has been shuffled to the back of Government’s queue.
“We have managed to achieve a whole lot of rhetoric, unfortunately, and very little in the way of capital investments or demonstration projects,” Beer says. “The biggest reason for that has been because of the lack of prioritizing an essential economic service to the Cook Islands.”
Despite a lack of Government support, the committee has managed to put together a road map of how the country should look in 25 years.
“It is probably one of the first master plans the world has ever seen, in terms of an energy policy,” says Beer. “In order for us to achieve this, we really do need the government to understand the priority. We need to start putting people into those positions that can start fast-tracking all of this.”
One of the key components of that plan’s research was to calculate how the various renewable energy technologies on the market – be they solar panels, wind turbines or hydrogen-energy fuel cells – could be successfully applied here.
“The last thing the Cook Islands needs is to make mistakes,” Beer says. “It can ill-afford to go ahead and make decisions and buy things that are totally out-of-whack with the country’s future.”
Beer says solar panels have, over the past few years, become the most feasible option, despite a high initial capital cost. But even that technology comes with a caution.
“We have very, very poor operational and maintenance schedules,” he says. “And, unless we find a technology that doesn’t have high maintenance schedules, we’re going to fail.”
Beer predicts renewable energy will be the currency of the future and he wants the Cook Islands to be a player in that market.
“We’ve got to realize just how important it is for us,” he says. “It’s not just a matter of economics. It’s now a matter of survival.”
The Energy Division
“I think it’s paramount that we must start now to look at renewable energy sources,” says Tangi Tereapii, a planner with the Energy Division of the Ministry of Transport. “It is a priority. About two years ago, the whole world suffered because of the crisis in the price of petroleum products. We are sensing there will be another spike coming up, so we’d better move, as a small nation, instead of waiting for the big countries to drown us.”
Tereapii says solar power and wind turbines are the most practical options for the country.
“These two technologies have already been proven in the Pacific,” he says. “We are in the tropics and close to the Equator, so we have plenty of sun.”
Tereapii says renewable energy’s ability to reduce power bills will have a flow-on effect by stimulating the economy.
“One of the barriers for business to grow here is energy cost,” he says. “We want the cost of energy to be minimal, to open up the market for business people to invest.”
When it comes to renewable energy, nothing shines as brightly as cold, hard cash, which is why the Ministry of Transport’s initiative for the upcoming budget is to raise funds to implement the 25-year plan put together by the National Energy Committee.
“That means going out and looking for the funds, instead of waiting for Government to give the money,” Tereapii says. “Because, without the funding, the plan will sit on the shelf and gather the dust.”
Should the plan become reality, Tereapii is optimistic about shaking off the fossil-fuel yoke.
“Our vision is for our country to be the first small-island country to be energy-independent,” he says. “By 2025, we should be totally independent.”
The Power Broker
Te Aponga Uira supports the idea of renewable energy, says CEO Apii Timoti, to the point that it introduced a net-metering policy.
“This allows individuals to generate their own electricity using renewable resources and, at the same time, have the ability to tap back into the grid when their renewable generator is not producing,” explains Timoti.
“Solar, for example: while there is sun, you use your own power. At night, then you fall back onto the grid.”
TAU also investigated the feasibility of a wind-power plant for the island, but Timoti says it didn’t make economic sense.
Timoti says the government needs to commit some serious money to finding a renewable energy source that works for the country, without adding a further tax burden on the population.
In the meantime, he says, we are at the mercy of the fluctuating oil market.
“Until the renewable energy sources become viable and cost-effective, we are stuck with diesel,” he says. “As technology improves, hopefully the price of those technologies will go down as well.”
The Money Man
Some people think bringing aid money into the country is as simple as filling out a request form and then shovelling the cash into a spare vault somewhere.
Garth Henderson can only wish it was that easy.
Yes, there is aid money available to kickstart the country’s leap into the brave new world of renewable energy. But there tends to be so many strings attached to this “free” money that it’s sometimes not worth the effort to untangle them.
“Actually getting your hands on this money – the processes and procedures – can be quite onerous,” says Henderson, the manager of Aid Management. “It will be a matter of us spending a lot of energy, a lot of time, a lot of resources, before we can actually get our hands on those funds.”
If there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is also no such thing as a free solar panel.
Japan, for instance, was dangling $66 million worth of solar technology in front of various Pacific island countries. The catch: the $66 million was actually intended to stimulate the Japanese economy.
“Many of these offerings are of self-interest, to a certain extent; that’s a classic case,” says Henderson. “A lot of the donors also have rules-of-origin. If China is going to be funding a renewable-energy project, the expectation is that it would be Chinese technology. There’s always that type of condition.”
Henderson says his office is also hobbled in its search for funds by the fact the Cook Islands is actually categorized as an upper-middle-income country.
“So the freebies to us are not there as much as they are for countries like Fiji, Samoa and Tonga,” he says. “We’re going to have to work hard for any freebies we get. And we’re certainly going to have to justify them.”
The key to accessing funds is a sound national policy regarding renewable energy sources, and Henderson says that is one area where the Cook Islands is lacking.
“Before we can get our hands on some decent funding, we have to have . . . sound institutions in-country to manage the introduction of any new technology, and competent people to operate and manage the funds,” he says. “We don’t have those in place yet. Once we do, our chances of getting our hands on some decent renewable-energy funding will be better.”
The Hydrogen Project
You can produce all the electricity you want, but if you have no way of storing it, then you might as well not have bothered.
Hydrogen energy technology could be the answer.
A delegation from the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies recently made a presentation to Government about the construction of a hydrogen energy installation on Aitutaki.
“It will allow the reduction of the fossil-fuel consumption on the island of around 10 per cent through the use of renewable energy sources combined with hydrogen energy technologies,” says ICHET associate director Dr Nicolas Lymberopoulos.
The project, which is currently under review by Government departments, would be initially based on Aitutaki because the energy costs there are higher than on Rarotonga.
“But this is a technology that, once the Cook Islands government and society have got familiar with and assessed its merits, could be applied to the other islands in the Cook Islands,” says Lymberopoulos.
Hydrogen would be used to store any excess electricity produced during the day via whatever renewable energy source was being used.
“When the afternoon comes, and peak demand arrives, you can use this hydrogen to produce electricity, feed the grid and cover the big demand,” says Lymberopoulos.
The project would require an initial injection of $1.5 million USD from Government but Lymberopoulos says the project is a workable first step for any country seeking to be emancipated from fossil fuels.
“The government will definitely see a benefit,” he says.
Sunshine Superman
Steve Anderson likes to quote a number when people ask him about the advantages of installing solar panels: 1560.
That’s how many hours of sunlight Rarotonga enjoys on an annual basis. Add in the fact the technology has become cheaper to purchase and it’s little wonder that Anderson’s company, Andersons, has two teams working flat-out on installation projects.
“The economics now work,” Anderson says. “Solar panels have been reduced in price and energy is still expensive.”
Anderson says the number of panels installed on a roof is based on a household’s average power usage.
“If a person is using 100 units a month, then we size the panels to generate 100 units a month, during daylight hours,” he says. “The surplus is pumped into the grid during the day and their meter goes backwards and they wind up with a credit on their power bill. At night, they then draw on their credit and consume from Te Aponga the credit that they built up during the day.”
Andersons also installs wind turbines and anybody who has driven past the Anderson property in Matavera has seen first-hand how impressive these structures can be.
Anderson says wind is actually a cheaper alternative to solar when it comes to costs, but there are restrictions as far as suitable sites are concerned.
“We only have sufficient wind in Rarotonga to make it viable if you live between Tupapa and Ngatangiia,” he says. “You need to have a clear, unobstructed view of the trade winds from the east-southeast.”
Even if it wasn’t his livelihood, Anderson says he’d preach the advantages of renewable energy.
“I really do think it’s good for the environment,” he says. “But it’s very difficult to persuade people of the environmental reasons for doing it if it doesn’t make economical sense as well. Now that it does, it’s helping the environment and the individual.”
Anderson says Government supports his efforts with solar energy, if not in actual funding, then certainly in terms of policy.
“The various ministries all believe it’s a good thing and want to see it happen more and more,” he says. “Our reliance on overseas diesel is a bit of a curse for this country and the more we can reduce that, the better off we will be.”

Herald Issue 463 10 June
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