SIDS Lighthouses quickscan: Interim report

The quickscan is a tool to help Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in their transition to renewable energy. Developed by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) as part of the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative, quickscans help to assess deployment conditions, monitor progress and identify areas where targeted assistance could accelerate the transition to renewables.

This interim report highlights the advantages and benefits of renewables for islands, explains the quickscan methodology and presents quickscan findings from multiple SIDS and other islands.

Quickscans provide a rapid, country-owned, qualitative assessment of existing conditions. To achieve this, government-appointed local energy experts complete a questionnaire, which is subsequently analysed by IRENA and other Lighthouses partners, both to determine key barriers and to highlight opportunities for the deployment of renewable energy solutions.

IRENA and a Lighthouses partner, the Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA) of the European Union (EU), assisted 28 island partners in the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative in completing quickscans. These included EU overseas countries and territories (Anguilla, Aruba, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, French Polynesia, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Sint Maarten, Turks and Caicos) and other SIDS (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Mauritius, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu).

Ten other island countries and territories (Bonaire, Falkland Islands, French Southern and Antarctic Lands – TAAF, Pitcairn Islands, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Helena, Saint-Pierre-et- Miquelon, Sint Eustatius and Wallis et Futuna) also completed quickscans in 2016 with OCTA assistance.