Bermuda’s plans for renewable energy were highlighted this week at the World Ocean Summit & Expo in Lisbon.

Walter Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs and Deputy Premier, was quoted in an article by Renewable Energy Magazine highlighting the regulatory sandbox for renewable technology and work with the Seabased Group to deploy a utility-scale wave-energy facility.

Mr Roban said: “We have developed what we call a regulatory sandbox for our energy transition to be part of the energy innovation that is necessary for islands to transition from fossil fuels.

“We’ve got a partner in that — a company called Seabased. We developed our own method of attracting innovation in the space. We are very much on the way to successfully deploying the first utility-scale wave-energy project in the world, but I’ll scale it down to the region.

“We are sharing this experience with the United Nations, and they're using it to deploy a similar project in Tonga.”

Marcelle Askew, vice-president of business development at Seabased, joined Mr Roban in the presentation on the wave-energy park, and said the company had conducted feasibility studies on putting such parks in several other island nations.

“Islands really are on the front lines of climate change, and Mr Roban is recognised as someone who is leading innovation not only for Bermuda, but with all islands in mind,” she added.

Sids Dock, the United Nations Small Island Developing States organisation for renewable energy transition, was said to be working with Seabased, a company from Dublin, and other island nations, but Mr Roban said that funding for such projects remains a challenge.

“There needs to be a rethink and redesign of the global financial architecture,” Mr Roban said. “The current system isn't satisfying the sustainable needs of developing states, islands or coastal communities.

“At the core of the issue is that the financial models that have been traditionally used are not suitable for the financial needs of the developing world. They’re based on principles that were designed for larger jurisdictions by a world that, at that time, was mostly white male contributors.

“Now we have a bigger world, which is not, and the needs of the Global South are identified in that. We need to change the model so that we can devise financial products that actually speak to the needs of the energy transition.

“We just want to be able to be sustainable. We just want to be able to be prosperous and we want to be able to take care of our people and their needs just like everybody else.”

Ilana Seid, of the United Nations Permanent Mission to Palau, said that in many cases the solutions put forward are too large for island nations, highlighting the need for islands to share their knowledge.

“One of the things we are working on at the UN is a Sids framework,” she said.

“Hearing about Bermuda’s initiatives in wave energy, there aren’t that many viable energy resources in the ocean that are sustainable.

“If there are such case studies in small islands, we should really share that and implement that across islands.”

The Electricity Amendment Act passed in 2022 created a regulatory “sandbox” — a light-touch rules framework designed to encourage innovation in energy production.

It was announced the previous year that the move to wave generation would lead to lower energy bills for residents, with the proposed 40 megawatt park to provide about 10 per cent of Bermuda’s electricity should an initial 2MW pilot project prove successful.