A Spanish engineering and consulting firm has determined that onshore solar is the most economically attractive source of electricity generation for Bermuda.

But there was a caveat.

Onshore solar power would be more onerous for Bermuda than in many other places owing to diseconomies of scale, higher capital expenditure, grid connection costs and leasing costs, according to Ricardo, a Madrid-based engineering company focused on sustainable technology innovation.

Bermuda’s Regulatory Authority visited Ricardo this month to gain more insight into updating the island’s Integrated Resource Plan to decarbonise the electricity sector, the Spanish company said.

Ricardo has worked with other small island states to map out renewable energy deployment, sustainable systems and resilience frameworks that enable a secure and affordable energy transition, the statement added.

“Small islands such as Bermuda face unique challenges when it comes to decarbonisation, including land scarcity for energy projects, dependency on tourism, and high vulnerability to extreme weather events,” a Ricardo spokesman said.

Their second recommendation to the RA was offshore wind — whose potential cost in Bermuda is also much higher than the global average, followed by solar panels that float on a body of water.

Ricardo told them these technologies would be more economically attractive than investing in new internal combustion engines or gas turbines burning heavy or light fuel oil.

“Variable renewable energy would require significant capital investment in battery storage technologies to offset its potential impact on supply continuity and system reliability,” Ricardo said.