100% Renewable Pacific

Pacific island nations want to become the world's first region powered entirely by the sun, wind and water. Getting there proves to be not as easy.

Natalie Widmann

About 10-25% of their GDP spend the nations of the Pacific Islands on importing fossil fuels. The war between the United States and Iran showed how precarious this dependence is. When the conflict interrupted, fuel prices across the Pacific spiked within weeks. In Vanuatu the diesel price jumped 64%, in Papua New Guinea, 73%. Tuvalu declared a state of emergency, giving the government the power to control the supply or ration the consumption of fuel and light.

But economic independence of fossil fuels is only one reason to switch to water, wind and sun. In November 2025 the leaders of the Pacific Islands agreed on a shared goal: to become the first region in the world powered entirely by renewable energy. Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's Minister for Climate Change, Energy and the Environment states:

"If we can manage the rapid transition of our energy systems in Pacific Islands, it can be a beacon for the rest of the globe. Our survival depends on it."
Ralph Regenvanu

So, how is renewable energy developing in the region? And what does that really mean? In this data story we look closer at the share of renewable energy: in on-grid power generation, as well as in the final energy consumption.

The share of renewable electricity in the Pacific varies a lot over the years. As parts comes from water power, a dry season effect to power mix. Also small grids like at the islands are more vulnerable to changes. To reduce complexity, we focus on the first and last year in the data: 2000 and 2023.

The data covers only on-grid power generation. This means electricity that reaches homes and businesses through the national grid.

Fiji had a really high share of renewable power generation in 2000 - mainly because of water energy from dams which were built decades ago. Since then, the share has dropped substantially.

Similarilly, Samoa and Papua New Guinea show a decrease. With growing economies, population and tourism sectors the demand for electricity grows. If the demand grows faster than new renewable energy sources are added, the gaps are filled with fossil fuels. Also hydropower is affectced by the weather and dry seasons can lead to a decrease in the share of renewable power.

Other nations, such as Palau or Cooks Island, could increase the share of renewable power substantially. They invested heavily in solar panels and batteries. Also Tonga, Guam, Niue and others could get renewable power generation started.

Power generation is only one part of the story. So let's compare it with the share of renewables in total energy consumption. This measures renewables across all energy that is used in a country: industry, private usage, transport including cars, boats, planes, etc. .

While Palau managed to increase the share in power generation, it's effect on energy consumption is with 1% very small. In Guam the effect is bigger.

Despite the decreasing share of rewneables in total energy consumption in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, it is still at about 50%

However, in many countries the share seems to stagnate or decline. The reason: electricity is just one slice of total energy use, and often not even the biggest one.

Renewable electricity has genuinely advanced across much of the Pacific. Cook Islands and Palau are proof it can happen fast when commitment is made and investments follow through. However, this does not necessarily mean that the share in the total energy consumption is substantially affected.

Fiji and Samoa's declining shares adds another second lesson: even electricity gains aren't permanent. Without continuous reinvestment, growing demand — from tourism, population, industry — quietly erodes them.

Electricity is a good sector to decarbonize. However, it only affects the consumers directly connected to the gird. Transport is way more difficult - especially on remote islands. Inter-island ferries, fishing boats and vehicle fleets run on imported diesel because no mature, affordable renewable alternative exists yet for them at this scale.

That gap is now being addressed. The Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership is seeking US$500 million to decarbonize domestic ferries and cargo vessels, targeting a 40% emissions cut by 2030 and full decarbonization by 2050.

Sources & data

Renewable share of power generation, on-grid
Pacific Data Hub / SPC.Stat, dataflow DF_POWER_GEN · stats.pacificdata.org
Renewable share of total final energy consumption
Pacific Data Hub / SPC.Stat, dataflow DF_SDG (indicator EG_FEC_RNEW) · stats.pacificdata.org