Cook Islands: 100% Renewable Energy in Different Guises

Abstract In its approach to delivering a 100% renewable energy target across 12 islands by 2020, the Cook Islands presents a rare insight into how planning requirements of high penetration renewable island systems vary with scale. To support this ambitious plan the Asian Development Bank and the European Union fund the Cook Islands Renewable Energy Sector Project, which will construct up to six solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants with a total installed capacity of about 3 megawatts-peak coupled with battery to store electricity from solar energy. The first three islands have small, standardized, centralized solutions (solar PV coupled with battery with existing diesel backup). An order of magnitude larger, Aitutaki will be implemented as a centralized solution in two stages, allowing detailed data collection and capacity building. An order of magnitude larger again, Rarotonga requires progressive planning and implementation including distributed generation, advanced control and integration, and sophisticated commercial structures.