It is important for Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) to realize the transition to renewable energy. In the Pacific Islands, there is great potential for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), which takes advantage of the ocean's characteristics, but in the short term the need is clear for distributed renewable energy sources_ including OTEC, such as solar and wind power, as well as batteries, in what might be called the "PALM hybrid model." Sharing Japan's "technology, know-how, and funds" is the key to solving the issue of development costs.

Amidst the reported longest and hottest summer in Japan, Pacific Island Forum Leaders in July 2024 welcomed Japan’s “Pacific Climate Resilience Initiative,” which committed to assist the region’s transition to clean and green energy through Japanese “technology, know-how and financial resources.” This was one of many new and renewed commitments made between the Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum and Japan at the 10^th Triennial Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10) held in Tokyo from the 16^th – 18^th July. The resulting PALM10 Declaration for the first time aligned itself with the Pacific Islands Forum’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and its 7 thematic areas included climate change and disasters. In terms of clean energy, the PALM10 Joint Action Plan,^＊１which serves to “give teeth” to the Declaration, committed to stronger cooperation “through the installation of renewable energies such as … Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)…”

Despite the structural dependence on fossil fuels by Pacific small island developing States (PSIDS)^*２ for electricity, its contribution to the vagaries of climate change evident in the region is potent enough to undertake the transition to renewable energy sources despite the challenges in doing so, especially with regards to financial resources. And with the conclusion of the UNFCCC COP29, dubbed the “finance COP,” which was charged with deciding the finances to be made to developing countries to assist in climate-proofing their futures, the USD300 billion that was finally gaveled was nowhere near the calculated ask by those most vulnerable, including the Pacific Islands. For PSIDS, and other small States alone at least a sixth of the amount agreed to at COP29 would be needed annually to build resilience and adaptation – a tall ask of the USD300 billion that has to be divvied up amongst all developing states generally. And this notwithstanding the finances needed for energy transition, which is estimated at around USD1 billion for 8 PSIDS.^＊３The enormity of the financial challenge though has not made timid the commitment by the PSIDS to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050.
The very limited financial commitment agreed to at COP29 enhances to greater prominence the vital and pivotal importance of the partnerships and arrangements the Pacific Islands Forum and Japan Leaders had agreed to in July, particularly through the financing mechanism of the Joint Action Plan as iterated above.^＊４

Armed with a sense of continued and perhaps greater and enhanced urgency, the Pacific Island Countries Ambassadorial Group (PICAG)^＊５based in Tokyo, at the behest of the Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum and Japan, undertook what became known as the “PICAG SDG7 Study Tour 2024 – Kumejima / Naha, Okinawa” from 30^th October – 02^nd November 2024.^＊６The intention was to further investigate and learn first-hand about the OTEC which had been operationalized on Kumejima in Okinawa. As an island within an island group, the requirements for an application of OTEC in the Pacific Islands as a means to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources are more likely than otherwise. PICAG also met with the Okinawa Electric Power Co. Inc. (Okiden) and its related agencies focusing on renewable energy, namely SeED Okinawa LLC and the Progressive Energy Corporation. The complementary yet diverging perspectives on the application of sources of renewable energy in the Pacific Islands region was telling yet logical.
The appeal of OTEC utilizes the heat difference in surface and deep ocean water to generate electricity. For the Pacific Islands, the use of the ocean and temperature differentiations to generate power has great potential. ^＊７Moreover, in PSIDS, with their limited land area, deploying solar and wind powerplants alone may face constraints. Additionally, the threat of cyclones pose infrastructural challenges to the exclusive use of these sources (although Okiden through JICA has provided “collapsable” wind turbines which may be easily dismantled during such natural disasters). OTEC, with its constant and predictable energy output, offers a stable and viable solution that should complement existing renewable energy systems. In addition, OTEC is not limited in its use as on land. Furthermore, the “Kumejima model”^*８has the private sector utilizing the deep sea water used by OTEC to generate local business from seafoods, such as farming and selling of sea grapes, prawns, and oysters, to cosmetics and drinking water production. The growth of the private sector in this symbiotic relationship also generates new job opportunities and thus promotes investment and trade and growth of the private sector. The implications OTEC has for Pacific Islands’ food, water, and energy security, including private sector development is clear. Therefore, it gives credence to the agreement as espoused in the PALM10 Joint Action Plan.
What was clear from the study tour though was not only the clear benefits of OTEC, but the incidental challenges of time, given that the Kumejima model was still small enough in scale to provide energy for around 200 households. And the challenge of financing for a larger model not yet in existence was also clear. As such, as part of the energy transition journey, it was also clear that what may be called a “PALM Hybrid model” is required in the short-term, comprised of current fossil fuel use, albeit being phased out, with distributed renewal energy sources such as OTEC, including solar, and wind – an advantage proposed by Okiden which has a proven record already in the Pacific Islands - and storage batteries. This would obviate the financial challenges of developing OTEC fit for purpose for the different energy needs of the Pacific Islands, though such sharing of Japanese “technology, know-how and financial resources,” as agreed at PALM10, is pivotal to the transition. And, coupled with the stark limitations of the outcome in Baku last year, this provision as agreed by Leaders becomes pivotal for the Pacific Islands’ ongoing plight on the front lines of the fight against climate change.

The study tour to Okinawa not only clarified to PICAG the practicalities in terms of the benefits of OTEC in the Pacific Islands but brought to the fore the time needed for the ongoing development of the technology to be fit for purpose for the Pacific Islands – time that the Pacific Islands may not have. In addition, the challenge of the financial implications for operationalizing OTEC remains ever-present, especially without private sector investment to off-set initial costs. However, as with all renewable energy technology, these come with costs which are comparatively higher than fossil fuels. Be that as it may, the transition to renewable energies must be made and is being made whilst ways and means are explored to achieve this in minimal time at minimal cost. The need for public-private-partnerships (PPP) is clear in this regard though it is suggested here that the PPP can be reformatted as a “PPP+” to include philanthropic organizations such as the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) and academic and research institutions like Saga University’s Institute of Ocean Energy and SPF’s Ocean Policy Research Institute.^＊９The PPP+ is central also to the “PALM Hybrid model” in this regard. For the Pacific Islands, the PALM Hybrid model would be an effective start to take advantage of current and developing “green” and “blue” / “cyan” technology like OTEC, which, together with wind, solar, and other technologies and with the "All Japan" assistance of financial resources committed under PALM10, the transition to 100% renewable energy in the Pacific would be more certain and timelier. The PALM Ministerial Interim Meeting (MIM), which would likely meet during Japan’s winter of 2025/2026 to review the PALM10 implementation, may be a timeframe for the operationalizing of the “PALM Hybrid model” before the fact.

*1 PALM10 Joint Action Plan https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/files/100702612.pdf
*2 PSIDS：Pacific Small Island Developing States: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu　
*3 “The small island states making big strides towards 100% renewable energy” in World Economic Forum, 31st May 2024.
*4 Hakko H. and Mulholland, Y, “OTEC: A Promising but Challenging Path to Clean Energy”, E3G, 08th November 2024.
*5 The PICAG are comprised of Pacific small island developing States’ diplomatic missions based in Tokyo. At present, there numbers are 7 namely Fiji, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga.
*6 The “PICAG SDG7 Study Tour 2024 – Kumejima / Naha, Okinawa” followed-up the “Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) High-Level Learning Tour to the Okinawa Prefecture Deep Ocean Water Research Center, Okinawa, Japan, from 13th – 16th November 2023” by PSIDS Permanent Missions to the United Nations. See also Vega, L. and Martin, B., Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Economics: Updates and Strategies, Ocean Energy Systems, March 2024.
*7 OES (2021), White Paper on Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). IEA Technology Programme for Ocean Energy Systems (OES), www.ocean-energy-systems.org . See also Yuki Kobayashi and an interesting take on the link between OTEC and geopolitics, in “Electricity and the “Ataranai Oyster – The Potential Thermal Energy Conversion” in OPRI Perspectives, No.29, 2024.
*8 IKEGAMI Yasuyuki. “A Japanese Version of the “Green Transformation (GX) Island Model” Centered on Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion” Ocean Newsletter, No. 564 (2024.02.05). https://www.spf.org/opri/newsletter/564_3.html
*9 In Chapter 4 “Energy Transition”, UN-ESCAP’s Sub-regional Office for the Pacific highlighted the key role research institutes as well as financiers and the private sector in PSIDS’ energy transition to renewable sources. See Pacific Perspectives 2022: Accelerating Climate Action, UN-ESCAP Sub-region Office for the Pacific, 2022.