# Guam

Territory Profile and Energy Estimates 

# Profile Analysis Print Territory Energy Profile (overview, data, & analysis) Last Updated: December 18, 2013



# Overview Guam, the largest island in Micronesia, lies in the Pacific Ocean about three-fourths of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. Surrounded by c oral reef, it sits on the edge of the Mariana Trench and its Challenger Deep, the deepestknown place on earth. Guam, like the neighboring Mariana Islands, is the top of an under sea mountain, part of a volcanic subsea chain stretching northwest toward Japan. Just 30 mi les long and 4 to 12 miles wide, Guam has nearly three-and-one-half times the land area o f Washington, DC. Guam has a tropical marine climate that is warm and humid with little s easonal temperature variation. The dry season runs from December to June, and the rainy se ason runs from July to November. The wet season can bring destructive typhoons.
The island has no conventional energy resources and meets nearly all of its energy needs, including electricity, with petroleum products ship ped in by tanker. Guam's population is about 160,000, plus 12,000 to 14,000 military perso nnel and their dependents. Tourism and the U.S. military are the two pillars of Guam's eco nomy. Pending military plans to move some personnel from Okinawa to Joint Region Marianas on Guam could bring a substantial influx o f people to the island. The military already accoun ts for more than one-fifth of Guam's energy consumption. Per capita energy consum ption on Guam is about one-fourth of the U.S. avera ge, and the island's energy intensity is typically about half of the U.S. avera ge.



# Petroleum Guam has no petroleum production or refineries. All petroleum products are shipped in through its onlyport, located at Apra. About half of petroleum consumed is residual fuel oil, used to generate electricity. Motor gasoline and jet fuel each make up about one-fifth of consumption. Diesel fuel and propane make up the ba lance of petroleum consumed. Guam's petroleum consu mption per capita varies by year but recently has averaged about the same as U.S. consumption per capita.



# Natural gas Guam does not produce or consume natural gas. As pa rt of its integrated resource planning, the Guam Po wer Authority (GPA) has proposed converting some older generating plants to use natural gas, shipped to the island as liquefie d natural gas (LNG), instead of petroleum fuels. The conversion would diversify GPA's fuels and enable the utility to comply with stri cter environmental requirements. 

# Guam has few energy resources and imports petroleum products to meet almost all its energy needs. U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and... http://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.cfm?sid=gq

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# Coal

Guam does not produce or consume coal.



# Electricity Electricity is provided by the GPA, a public corpor ation overseen by the elected Consolidated Commissi on on Utilities (CCU) and regulated by the Guam Public Utilities Commission ( PUC). GPA owns and manages the island's power grid. GPA's electricity is generated primarily from No. 6 residual fuel oil, w ith a small amount from No. 2 distillate. Some hote ls also independently generate their own power and hot water.
In the 1990s, facing the need for major reinvestmen t in its base-load generating facilities, GPA began contracting with independent power provid ers to upgrade and operate the island's power generators. All GPA base-load genera ting facilities are now managed by outside firms under long-term contracts. The GPA's nominal generating capacity is about twice its historic peak load of 280 megawatts, givi ng the island grid backup capacity.
The high cost of petroleum fuels has spurred electr icity conservation among Guam consumers, producing a downward trend in consumptio n after 2008. Electricity costs about 2.5 times more on Guam than on the U.S. mainland, a lthough that is still less than on many Pacific islands. The commercial sector is the large st electricity consumer, using more than one-third of all power. That sector includes hotels and restaurants serving tourists. The residential sector consumes three-tenths of electri city, and the U.S. military, one-fifth. Facing the high cost of petroleum fuels, GPA, the CCU, and the Guam PUC have been exploring possible future alternatives including LNG and smal l-scale nuclear power. GPA is also funding energy e fficiency and demand-side management programs.



# Renewable energy Substituting sustainable local energy resources forimported petroleum is a goal of Guam's economic de velopment strategy. Multiple opportunities for energy efficiency measures and re newable energy applications are being studied. Litt le renewable energy has been available on the island beyond a few solar photovol taic (PV) units used for cell phone towers and remo te weather stations, solar thermal units used for water heating, and a few small (less than 5 kilowatts) wind generators operated by comm ercial and residential users.
In 2008, Guam's legislature set a renewable portfol io goal of having renewable sources provide 5% of net electricity sales by 2015 and 25% of sales by 2035. Any new base-load electrical generating plant must obtain 10% of its total generating capacity from alternative energy sources. Solar PV, wind, biomass, wave energ y, and ocean thermal energy are all recognized as renewable sources. Guam's building co de has required new homes to be constructed ready for solar hot water heater instal lation since 2000. Military bases are adding solar arrays and solar water heaters to their livin g quarters.
The Guam Power Authority released its first renewab les solicitation in 2011, and its first solar generating project, the 20-megawatt Quantum Guam Po wer, was under construction in 2013. A second project, Pacific Green Resources' 15-megaw att combined solar PV and wind project, was negotiated, and further renewables projects of all types were being solicited. Guam has s ubstantial wind potential but also unique siting issues. Guam is seismically active an d is in the Pacific's "Typhoon Alley," so wind turb ines must be engineered to resist both earthquakes and typhoon-force winds. Wind turb ine siting must consider impacts on military facili ties, endangered species, and other local environmental concerns. Another challen ge is maintaining stability of the island's small e lectric grid given the variability of wind power. 

# The Guam Power Authority is considering converting costly petroleum-fired generating stations to LNG.

Wind turbines require special engineering to cope with Guam's earthquakes and typhoons. U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and... http://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.cfm?sid=gq

2 of 3 9/15/2014 3:32 PMGuam has limited known geothermal resources, and us ing its principal biomass, municipal solid waste, a s an energy source has not

been extensively explored. Two ocean-based technolo gies being investigated are Ocean Thermal Energy Co nversion (creating electricity from the temperature differences betwee n ocean layers) and Sea Water Air Conditioning (usi ng cold ocean water for chillers). Both technologies would involve piping to access de ep ocean layers, and applications may be limited bypiping impacts on the fragile coral reef surrounding Guam.



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### U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and... http://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.cfm?sid=gq

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