Palau Energy Storage Container Connection System

As there is no battery storage system currently present in Palau, the panels can only generate throughout the day when the sun is available, and no electricity can be stored for later use. Furthermore, the figure also confirms that Palau's current power system is widely dominated by fossil fuel generation.

The optimal system includes the current power system together with additional renewable capacity coupled with battery storage. The results of the optimisation show that Palau's current power system is dominated by diesel generation, with renewable energy only taking a small share (just 4%).

The results of the optimisation show that Palau's current power system is dominated by diesel generation, with renewable energy only taking a small share (just 4%). With more deployment, however, the share taken by renewables could potentially increase to more than 92%. This corresponds to the lowest average system LCOE.

Source: PPUC and PEA data (n.d.). Together with a large amount of diesel generation, Palau also has some installed solar PV capacity. Indeed, the country's current renewable energy capacity includes a total of 2.5 MW of utility-scale solar PV systems (see Table 3).

The results show that on top of the 2.5 MW of solar PV currently present in Palau, an additional 83 MW of solar PV and 20 MW of wind turbines would be required for such a system. Furthermore, this scenario would necessitate a battery storage system of 168 MWh and battery inverters of 34 MW.

A key recommendation for the government, if it is to achieve its proposed target of a 100% share for renewables by 2050, is to accelerate deployment of solar PV and battery storage systems through a combination of Palau Public Utilities Corporation (PPUC) investments and power purchase agreements (PPAs).