Representatives of islands, including Bermuda, in Hawaii last year at the invitation of the Blue Planet Alliance (Photograph supplied)

An island charity is urging Bermuda to collaborate with a Hawaiian non-profit organisation working to convince islands and countries around the world to commit to 100 per cent renewable energy generation by 2045.

Greenrock is in talks with the Blue Planet Alliance to explore the potential for Bermuda to follow a similar model to the Hawaiian island of Kauai, which is already achieving 100 per cent renewable energy for its 74,000-strong population on certain days of the year.

The BPA has made the case that Bermuda, along with other countries, can phase out fossil fuels and quickly transition to a renewable energy future while reducing and stabilising costs.

Greenrock was part of a delegation including non-profit, regulator, utility and government representatives from Bermuda and several other islands that accepted an invitation from the BPA Fellowship Programme to Hawaii for a five-day conference last year to learn about Kauai’s transition.

They were also offered assistance in trying to replicate similar models in their own jurisdictions. Greenrock has remained in talks with the non-profit group since May 2024.

In 2018, Greenrock partnered with island solar company BeSolar on the Bermuda Better Energy Plan — a submission to the 2018 integrated resource plan, which determines the island’s future energy mix.

The proposal sought to achieve 64 per cent of renewable generation by 2038 and the charity has now referenced BPA in its feedback in the latest IRP iteration.

Belco’s preferred IRP proposal, for a plan yet to be approved, seeks to achieve 85 per cent renewable energy by 2040.

The portfolio requires a fuel switch from heavy fuel oil to light fuel oil, a ten-year life cycle extension of some engines, and the addition of wind, onshore and floating solar methods as well as storage.

In the proposal, there is an option to “pivot to a liquefied natural gas strategy”. LNG is a fossil fuel that will require infrastructure investment and continuing fuel costs.

Eugene Dean, the executive director of Greenrock (Photograph supplied)

Eugene Dean, the Greenrock executive director, said: “The big challenge is that renewable energy targets are not legislated.

“What we achieved in 2018 was great. It was the first time in my life I saw public policy in alignment with public interest because the clear message from the people was moving towards a renewable energy future.”

The Regulatory Authority, Bermuda’s electricity sector regulator, sent Nigel Burgess, its director of energy, and Donn Foggo, its director of communications and stakeholder engagement, to the BPA conference in May 2024.

The RA, which commissioned a report by British-based consultant Ricardo that favoured LNG for the future — a fuel earlier rejected — has said it was committed to ensuring every option was carefully considered.

Nadir Wade, the managing director for Belco, also attended the conference. Belco said that staying informed about global developments was “essential to serving our customers effectively”.

However, Wayne Caines, the president of Belco and its parent company Liberty, said this week: “Fact-based models consistently indicate that a mix of solar and wind supported by LNG represents the lowest-cost and cleanest pathway forward for Bermuda.”

The next phase of Bermuda’s IRP is taking shape but Greenrock believes it is not too late to put forward alternative options.

Mr Caines recently issued statements saying the utility “desperately” wants to proceed with LNG.

He said LNG would improve emissions caused by the burning of heavy fuel oil — as the power provider does at present — and that LFO was not cost effective.

Stuart Kriendler, renewable energy adviser for Greenrock, hopes the Blue Planet Alliance can assist Bermuda in its transition (Photograph supplied)

However, Stuart Kriendler, a renewable energy adviser for Greenrock, along with Mr Dean, said a move to LNG would lock the island in to high energy bills because of fuel costs — an expense that is absent from solar and wind energy — and the high cost of infrastructure.

LNG infrastructure has been estimated in viability reports as costing anywhere from $140 million to $315 million.

Mr Kriendler believes Bermuda can achieve renewable goals for a similar cost using LFO as well as gradually increasing sources of renewable energy.

He said panels could be installed on property roofs and, if more space was needed, on the solar finger at the airport or even brownfield sites.

Mr Kriendler, who is also the chief empowerment officer for Sunny Side Solar, a Bermuda solar energy non-profit organisation, said: “LNG is a massive risk — it’s all your eggs in one basket.

“You lock in these rates for 20 or 30 years as people transition to renewable sources of energy.”

Greenrock said prices would rise for fossil fuels while renewable energy prices were “plummeting” and renewable technologies were becoming more widely adopted.

Mr Kriendler said: “We know that four offshore wind turbines can produce one third of our electricity demand. What happens if we put five or six up?

“Solar and battery prices have decreased so significantly since 2018 and now we have bidirectional electric vehicles that aren’t in Belco’s IRP, where your EV can power your house and vice versa.”

Mr Dean added: “LNG is the best thing for Belco but we are not in it to make the best possible decision for Belco, it’s for the country.

“We already said back in 2018 that LNG is not in our interests so why would that even come up? The renewable targets need to be legislated.”

Mr Kriendler said that legislation was also needed to provide benefits on renewable energy use for home renters, not just owners, while the planning process for installing solar should be streamlined.

Henk Rogers, the founder and chief executive of Blue Planet Alliance (Photograph supplied)

Henk Rogers, the founder and chief executive of BPA, said that Kauai, despite being one of the rainiest locations in the world, was largely replacing diesel-powered energy with solar and battery infrastructure. “It actually works better,” he added.

He explained: “If you are running a diesel plant, as your demand fluctuates as it does all the time, you can’t turn the diesel up and down that quickly so they have a spinning reserve.

“They throw away the extra energy they are not using but with batteries, they can control it exactly within microseconds.”

Asked how renewable sources such as solar and wind fare in rough weather, including hurricanes, Mr Rogers responded: “What a hurricane generally wipes out is your wires on sticks.

“It’s your distribution network that goes down, not your power source, these are made to withstand hurricanes, the panels and turbines can be hurricane proof.”

He said that Hawaii did not pay for its solar infrastructure. It made a deal with the company that created the infrastructure in a power purchase agreement.

“That means that you pay for the electricity that it generates, that’s it,” he said.

He added that batteries were able to store electricity generated for periods when the sun did not shine and that modern batteries were safer than in the past with fire suppression systems.

Mr Kriendler said a study was needed to assess the cost and timescale of a 100 per cent renewable grid for Bermuda.

“Ideally, we can work with the BPA to get the best practices possible and to get the grid study done to show what 100 per cent renewable looks like. Then there is no excuse not to legislate targets at that point.

“If you have targets, people are comfortable investing in it.”

The Government did not respond to questions from The RoyalGazette by press time.