Program explores ways for islands to transition to renewables

Rep. Manny Gregory T. Castro (Ind-Saipan) is attending a nine-day Blue Planet Alliance’s inaugural Followship Program that kicked off last Oct. 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Fellowship Program is offered to island leaders around the globe who are looking to transition their islands away from fossil fuels and toward a renewable energy future.

Castro, who is chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation’s Public Utilities and Communications Committee, cited the importance of the Fellowship Program in his off-island notice to House of Representatives Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) and SNILD chair Rep. John Paul P. Sablan (Ind-Saipan).

The lawmaker asked to be excused from session from Oct. 14 to 24, 2023.

During the program, Castro will hear from policy experts, utility executives, community organizers, climate-solution advocates, and many more leaders with extensive knowledge of why renewable energy is the answer—and how to do it together.

The lawmaker was able to meet with representatives from the Blue Planet Alliance during the U.S. Department of Interior’s Territorial Climate and Infrastructure Workshop in May 2023.

Last July 26, Castro was invited as a representative of the CNMI to participate in Blue Planet’s inaugural Fellowship Program.

In 2015, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to legislatively mandate a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045. Castro said this landmark legislation inspired other jurisdictions throughout the country to set similar ambitious climate goals.

Today, more than 20 U.S. states and jurisdictions have followed Hawaii’s lead and targets a transition to 100% renewable energy.

For Hawaii, Castro said, there were myriad considerations for the switch. “Of course, there were existential reasons: experts have noted that dirty energy can cause irreversible environment damage that would be devastating to Hawaii’s future.” However, Castro said, there were also economic reasons: the state was spending $6 billion a year importing gas and coal. With the new plan, the state will save billions and keep that money invested in the local economy, he added.

The lawmaker said Hawaii is not markedly different from the CNMI and other islands in these regards.

He said the objective of this Fellowship Program is to share all the knowledge they have gained, all the lessons they have learned, and together explore opportunities for the CNMI to similarly transition to a 100% renewable energy future.

“If the technology is there to harness geothermal energy in our Northern Islands and convert it to containerized hydrogen, we would then be able to export it to various places in Asia,” said Castro, adding this will effectively reduce the CNMI’s dependence on the importation of fossil fuels, and increase its Gross Domestic Product.

He said this will bring much needed economic, environmental and workforce development opportunities to the people of the CNMI.