Understanding the Challenges for Modelling Islands’ Energy Systems and How to Solve Them

As we transition to highly renewable energy systems, island energy systems face challenges different from those well-understood for continents. This paper reviews these challenges to guide energy systems modelling for islands.

Only a single energy system model is found to be developed especially for islands. Challenges like land scarcity, climate risks, high seasonality of demand, isolation and remoteness, data scarcity, social and political vulnerability, and scarce funding are identified in recent literature. Notably, isolation and remoteness, social and political factors, and insufficient island funding are underrepresented in studies reviewed in this work.

This review identifies the specific challenges of island energy systems and compiles the methods employed by researchers to tackle them. We discuss these challenges in detail, highlight gaps, and provide suggestions to improve island energy systems modelling in the future.