Palau moves away from oil

NEW YORK CITY—The Republic of Palau has formed a new partnership with three private companies to transition the island nation toward renewable energy.

Palau made the partnership with EarthX, GridMarket, and the Global Island Partnership during the United Nations’ High-Level Political Forum to help island and coastal communities achieve their renewable energy and resilient infrastructure goals.

Palau’s political leadership, GLISPA’s international network, GridMarket’s innovative technology, and EarthX’s resources are collectively accelerating the transition of small island developing states toward renewable energy and resilient infrastructure.

This new partnership, called “Island Resilience Partnership,” builds on the Island Resilience Initiative, enhancing the effort by island leaders to scale models for local implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals with new resources and technologies.

As host of the “Our Ocean Conference” in 2020, Palau is making the partnership a cornerstone of its efforts to combat the effects of climate change.

“The voyage to a resilient and sustainable future is not one that is taken alone, but by a movement of cities, states, islands, and countries working together to shape the future we want,” said Pala President Tommy Remengesau.

“Our partnership has been working across islands for the past 10 years to build island resilience,” said Kate Brown, executive director of GLISPA. …“Too often, islands are dismissed as small and insignificant, but this unique partnership demonstrates why islands are becoming a model for the global transition toward resilient infrastructure.”

Palau’s public-private partnership is currently transitioning its energy economy away from dependency on imported diesel and toward self-sustaining energy infrastructure—a national plan that was developed and is being implemented at no cost to the country’s government due to the generosity of EarthX.

GridMarket, which was spun out of a public-private partnership with the City of New York following Hurricane Sandy, used its predictive analytics and mapping technology to identify renewable energy and microgrid solutions for Palau’s government buildings, commercial properties, and residential homes. “We’re honored to be the chosen vehicle for Palau’s national transformation,” said Nick Davis, CEO of GridMarket.

Trammell S. Crow, founder of EarthX, committed to scaling the public-private partnership in order to help those communities already being impacted by rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and natural disasters. “We now have a proven model for quickly transforming a diesel-dependent country with a fragile energy grid into a resilient, renewable energy-producing nation,” said Trammell S. Crow.

Remengesau and the Island Resilience Partnership will be showcasing the progress of its partners with an exhibition and Island Resilience Pavilion at EarthX, the world’s largest environmental expo. EarthX2019 will take place April 26-28, 2019, in Dallas, Texas. (PR)