An Interview with Dan Kammen on Climate Spectator

It all sounds a little utopian and improbable, but Dan Kammen, the chief technical specialist for renewable energy and energy efficiency for the World Bank, says island and remote communities, particularly in developing countries, are proving to be excellent testing grounds on how to achieve 100 per cent clean energy outcomes. The high price of fossil fuels in these countries allows the technology to be available sooner, and many have no other options.

“Getting to 10 and 20 per cent renewables has proved very doable, but how do you get to 80, 90, 100 per cent where you’ve really got to deal with integration issues? And what we’re seeing in many island communities, and also many isolated non islands that look like islands from a power perspective, is that good management of the system, integrating efficiency and renewables, finding ways to back up your clean generation; those lessons translate to countries rich and poor around the world.”