New Energy For The Islands

By Vivian Carroll

I STAND NATIONS are increasingly turning to renewable energy systems to meet growing demands for electricity and combustion fuels, especially for re mote or rural areas. Like other developing nations, Pacific states have a special in terest in breaking away from a depend ence on fossil fuels: energy prices controlled by external political forces and vulnera bility to the resources policies of suppliers lie at the heart of much Third World debt.

Now atmospheric warming the “greenhouse effect” that is due in part to the burning of fossil fuels could lead to melting ice caps, rising sea levels and the disappearance of many low-lying islands.

According to Dr John Todd, organiser of the fifth Energy for Rural and Island Communities Conference (ERIC V), held in Hobart concurrently with the interna tional “Islands 88” conference, such global environmental problems demand the greater use of renewable energy alterna tives such as solar, wind, biomass and mini-hydro sources; a move about which he is very optimistic. “The pessimists were weeded out years ago,” said Dr Todd who, after five days of workshops and papers, had seen his confidence vindicated.

“People who five years ago were research ing equipment are now out in the market place selling their systems.”

But most important to Dr Todd, him self a physicist and environmental scien tist, is the human side the social, cultural and political aspects. “First we neeed to identify problems, then talk about the technology,” he said.

Researchers at the Energy Studies Unit of the University of the South Pacific would agree. The ESU has been monitor ing a number of solar or photovoltaic (PV) schemes in Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. They have found that hardware alone is not the answer.

In 1986, Tuvalu received 150 EEC-sup plied household lighting systems. Tonga received another 80, and medical refrig eration units were distributed to PNG (12), Tuvalu (10) and the Solomons (five); but because of islanders’ low per capita in comes, PV schemes have required subsi dies or capital grants from governments, co-operatives or aid agencies.

The ESU recommends a “total PV package”, which could provide remote householders with easily understood in formation on their PV system, training and technical support including spare parts.

Dr John Twidell, of the Energy Studies Unit at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, spoke on the problem of how to make technical solutions to energy needs translate across cultural and geographical borders. In Fiji, Dr Twidell was told a so lar water heating unit at the University of

the South Pacific ran barely lukewarm.

Curious, the world authority on solar en ergy systems investigated, found the situ ation as described and climbed on to the roof to check the installation.

All was fine, except that it had been placed on the south side of the building away from the prevailing sun. The install ers had followed to the letter instructions for European conditions printed on the European packaging.

Many papers demonstrated the matu rity of hybrid systems: those using com binations of solar, wind or diesel power to run “stand alone” units independent of es tablished energy grids. Advances in die sel-powered generators, microprocessors, coated surfaces and turbine engineering coupled with vigorous competition among component producers has led to a multi plicity of choices for island communities.

Appropriate technologists reported heartening progress with micro-hydro power units in PNG and hand-held water pumps made from common PVC piping and other readily available materials, which have succeeded in island situations where intensive engineering or power based projects had failed.

Rice husks, a once-wasted fifth of In

dia’s rice crop, are now being used to fuel cooking stoves and hot water units in vil lage homes and hotels: one example of the expanding range of so-called biomass fuels suitable for adoption by Pacific states, no tably Fiji, where biomass combustion en ergy is used in the sugar industry and where electricity and copra drying proj ects have been proposed for outer islands.

Coconut shell husk is another biomass fuel with obvious potential in the Pacific, but what about coconut oil? Dr Ralph Simms of Massey University, New Zea land, has run deisel-engined tractors on esters refined from vegetable oils, includ ing coconut. Esters have a high cetane or combustibility value, and tests in England have confirmed that vegetable or tallow (animal fat) esters blend perfectly with diesel fuel and give slightly better en gine wear characteristics than neat diesel.

Even rancid butter could be used if waste from the European Community’s “mountain” of over-production could be purchased cheaply. Although esters re main two to three times more costly than diesel (prices will vary according to loca tion), they could take the pressure off die sel supplies in remote areas when drums run dry before supply ships arrive. □