Page 46 - CARILEC CE Industry Journal_Oct_2019

Recognizing the importance of reliable electricity, people
in disaster-prone areas have historically kept diesel or gas
generators as backup systems to provide electricity when
the grid is out. These systems have a relatively low
up-front cost and are readily available to all sorts of
consumers. However, the hurricane season of 2017
exposed the shortfalls of backup generators in
disaster-prone areas. These relatively small investments
can work well during short outages but can quickly
become expensive to maintain and fuel during longer
outages. Admittedly, after a natural disaster, cost is not
always the driving factor in decision-making. However,
the lack of available fuel needed to run generators can
lead to lack of reliability in these backup generation
systems. Shortages of fuel after a storm are especially
problematic for island economies that depend on
imported fossil fuels. After Hurricane Maria in Puerto included a detailed 20-year plan as well as a suite of
Rico, it took weeks to reestablish fuel supplies . optimal near-term projects. The NETS showed that a
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Furthermore, the lack of on-site expertise in maintaining portfolio of utility-scale solar and distributed solar, wind,
generators along with the overuse of these generating and diesel generation together with energy storage helps
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assets can lead to unplanned shutdowns and best meet the electricity needs of Saint Lucia . Through
maintenance issues. To top it off, backup generators are the support of the island’s utility, LUCELEC, and the
only useful during grid outages. When the grid is up and Government of Saint Lucia, the NETS charts a pathway
running, these generators do not provide any value to the toward a future Saint Lucian energy system—one of lower
grid or for their owners. In fact, these backup generators cost, continued reliability, and increased energy
are a sunk cost and require routine maintenance to keep independence.
ready for emergency use.
After the collaborative success in Saint Lucia, and on the
heels of Hurricane Irma last year, RMI, the Government of
PLANNING THE GRID the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and their utility, BVIEC,
outlined all their shared electricity sector priorities;
HOLISTICALLY resilience, reliability, low cost, environmental
stewardship, and job creation in a Resilient National
Although it is important to provide electricity that is Energy Transition Strategy (R-NETS). Now finalized and
resilient to extreme events, planners cannot prepare the approved by the Government of the BVI, the R-NETS
grid only for these events. It is best to plan electricity provides a long-term plan for the territory (one which
assets in the context of the whole system. For many includes significant investment in distributed energy
island economies, resilience to storms is an important resources) and will support the territory’s commitment to
factor but not the only priority. Least cost, for example, is finding reliable and resilient energy solutions in support of
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a high priority for many islands because high electricity building the BVI better, stronger, and greener .
rates weigh heavily on their economies. Energy autonomy
is another important factor for islands. The desire to use
indigenous, sustainable, natural resources like wind, A WIN-WIN SCENARIO:
solar, biomass, hydro, and geothermal power instead of SITING GRID RESOURCES
imported fuel is often another driving factor in
decision-making. Optimizing electricity systems to solve WITH CRITICAL FACILITIES
any one issue (e.g., resilience, cost, or utilization of local
resources) is not a comprehensive solution. It is best to From our work with islands, it is clear that a positive
optimize investments to be as valuable as possible for all energy future for island economies involves a significant
customers across an entire electricity system, based on shift away from fossil fuels and movement towards energy
the priorities of each island. efficiency and renewable resources such as wind,
biomass, hydro, solar, geothermal, and battery storage.
At Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the Islands Energy Planning for this transition will require careful
Program has been working throughout the Caribbean consideration of how to best deploy resources to yield the
with island governments and utilities to plan their most value for the grid. For any energy system, there is a
electricity systems and optimize future investments to baseload requirement of centralized generation and the
accomplish the things that are important for them . In need for valuable distributed energy resources (DERs) as
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Saint Lucia, the government and the utility explored the well. But adding backup generation that provides no
prioritized energy objectives of the country through a benefit to the grid when there is no outage is not an
National Energy Transition Strategy (NETS), which efficient or holistic way to plan for an energy transition.

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