Experts from the UK-based organization, Institute for Environmental Analytics (IEA), were in Palau for a workshop on Renewable Energy Space Analytic Tool (RE-SAT), a technology deemed to complement the country’s initiatives to achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of generating 45% renewable energy.
The RE-SAT is a space-age technology that will aid agencies in Palau such as the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment, and Tourism (MNRET), PALARIS, Bureau of Land and Survey (BLS), Palau Public Utilities Corporation (PPUC), and the Palau Energy Administration (PEA) to “develop forecasting method of solar irradiation, wind patterns, tidal wave, and ocean thermal, as a
potential source of renewable energy.”
Palau Energy Administration’s (PEA) Energy Specialist Gerald Tulop told Island Times that the technology will enable planners to have broader understanding on what kind of renewable energy can be obtained from specific sites in the country and at the same time, provide insights on their economic factors.
IEA Principal Business Consultant Alan Yates said in an interview with Island Times on November 28 that the RE-SAT can provide better information to project planners who are tasked to design infrastructures intended for the generation of renewable energy.
Yates said that IEA’s RE-SAT proved successful during the first phase of its implementation in Seychelles.
Funded by the UK Government through the UK Space Agency, the project now is on its second phase working with Palau and five other small island developing states such as the St. Lucia, Mauritius, Montserrat, Tonga and Vanuatu.
“As an island, you have work out how could we generate and what is our plan over the years to increase our level of renewable energy. So in principle, it is a really good thing for Palau because it ultimately reduces our reliance on fossil fuels – that means that your economy is less expose to the changes in the price of oil,” Yates said.
A workshop participated by various officials from MNRET, PALARIS, BLS, PPUC, and the PEA on November 28 at the Executive Lounge. (By Rhealyn C. Pojas)