2.1.2. Pacific Island Countries Reports

All the reports used here came from the two main organizations in the Pacific, which are the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme(SPREP). These included: SPREP Annual Report [24], Status and Trends of Coral Reefs of the Pacific [25], Pacific Regional Energy Assessment [26], Pacific Marine Climate Change Report Card [27], and Pacific Community Results Reports [28]. Each document provided information on the current or latest status of the environmental, social, and economic sectors. They were the basis of understanding the local vulnerabilities and intricacies that should be considered during a project.

#### *2.2. Methods*

#### 2.2.1. Integrated Conceptual Framework for the Pacific Island Countries

By studying the concepts behind wave energy harnessing and the Pacific environment, it was possible to construct an integrated conceptual framework for the Pacific Island countries (ICFPICs). The ICFPICs is integrative since it integrates knowledge and concepts from different fields and organize variables connected to a central idea; it is also a conceptual framework considering that all the information here gathered stems from literature reviews and methodological assumptions. After reviewing the available documents, guidelines, and reports, every item considered to be a potential challenge was categorized using the PESTEL approach and fit into a cluster diagram. Each PESTEL dimension was structured into separate clusters that revolved around a core concept, and where elements shared similar characteristics.

#### 2.2.2. PESTEL-SWOT Combined Analysis

The ICFPICs provided an overview of the relevant elements for wave energy in the Pacific, which were be combined with the SWOT analysis to point towards the related internal and external factors. Each item from the ICFPICs was analyzed from the perspective of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, resulting in a PESTEL-SWOT combined matrix. In this case, strengths and weaknesses were related to wave energy, representing the internal factors; opportunities and threats were external factors, being related to the macro-environmental variables that could justify or hinder a project. The resulting matrix shows the possible factors for each category and should be further adapted to individual case studies.

#### **3. Results**

Each division of the framework is explained below and further divided into important factors. Further information on each PESTEL element can be found in Appendix A, where the reasoning behind their connection to wave energy in the Pacific is explained.

The decision to invest in renewable energy, regardless of the source, is still connected to the political sphere of a country. This is particularly important for wave energy or marine technologies as a whole, considering their long lifecycle and higher investment rate of return. For the political sector, the main factors are political stability, renewable energy targets, and government support.

How affordable the energy is, the risks, and the benefits involved are all essential parts of the feasibility study of a wave energy project. The main concepts to be analyzed here are the cost of energy, the risks of the project, and the feed-in tariff. Therefore, for the economic sector, the main factors are economic stability, cost of energy, feed-in tariff, risk assessment, and access to funds.

Social aspects of an island nation are fairly complex; they are usually associated with the local environment and local economy making it an intricate task to classify which factors only belong to the social sphere. For instance, exploring natural resources, such as sand, can be for home construction or for export. For this study, social factors are all the activities that involve the local society, either to make profits or for subsistence purposes. For the social sector, the main factors are offshore mining, tourism, navigation, fishery, aquaculture, recreation sites, cultural and world heritage sites, and local acceptance.

The processes of building, maintaining, and connecting a WEC to the grid require additional infrastructure and resources. Bringing the device from the supplier to the potential site is a long process that relies on a port for logistic purposes, and also on specialists and qualified workers. In addition to that, if the main objective is to supply electricity to the main grid, suitable grid infrastructure is required to minimize installation costs. Therefore, for the technological sector, the main factors are electricity supply and demand, electricity grid, seaports, expertise, and logistics.

The island environment provides essential services to the local communities and therefore is a crucial element when analyzing the feasibility of any type of development. Wave energy converters are placed in the ocean, where there might be located important marine species or coral reefs. These devices might also be subjected to extreme weather scenarios and this factor will be accentuated if the WEC is situated in a hazard-prone area. For the environmental sector, the main factors are natural hazards, biodiversity, and coral reefs.

Lastly, there are mainly two forms of legal concerns regarding wave energy, which are related to the physical space and energy regulations. There are offshore zones that are either prohibited from being accessed or under protection, including areas being utilized as military bases, conservation areas, or the boundaries of the EEZ. Each country also has its own regulations when it comes to the generation of electricity and these should be accounted for. For the legal sector, the main factors are regulations, maritime zones, marine protected areas, military zones, and dependent territories.

#### *3.1. Integrative Conceptual Framework for the PICs (ICFPICs)*

Figure 2 shows an illustration of all the PESTEL components combined and each of their related factors. There is a total of 29 potential obstacles that were identified through the previous stages, and these are grouped by categories on the resulting visual representation. Each item should be further analyzed for a particular location by gathering relevant information and by mapping barriers when applicable.

To facilitate the process of utilizing the ICFPICs, a decision tree was created (Figure 3). The purpose is to assist the user in identifying potential challenges and determining which actions to take afterward. As an example, the tree starts with the ICFPICs item aquaculture, which is shown here as "Presence of aquaculture activities"; for this item, decision makers need to verify if it will present a challenge to the project and follow the necessary steps. In

brief, for each challenge encountered the solutions will vary between five main options: changing the location of the site, conducting further analysis, consulting stakeholders, including additional costs to the project, and canceling or postponing the project. This is a generic tool that gives an overview of the process; however, it should be adapted to each case study and could potentially include additional steps or solutions.

**Figure 2.** Integrative conceptual framework for harnessing wave energy in the PICs (ICFPICs).

**Figure 3.** Decision tree exemplifying the process of utilizing the ICFPICs for a wave energy project in the Pacific environment; highlighted boxes are the main outcomes from the process.

#### *3.2. The Combined PESTEL-SWOT Analysis*

To demonstrate how PESTEL-SWOT analysis can be utilized, every item from the ICFPICs was studied as an external factor and fitted into a SWOT matrix (Table 1). Wave energy was surveyed in the context of the energy resource to be harnessed, and how it would contribute to the local society. The resulting matrix should be adapted to different case studies and provides a run-through of the feasibility of a wave energy project. Strengths and weaknesses are related to the process of installing, operating, and maintaining a wave energy converter device, which is mostly technological. Opportunities and threats are covered by the political, environmental, social, technological, economic, and legal categories.


**Table 1.** PESTEL-SWOT analysis combined; elements in the ICFPICs were used to create a SWOT matrix.

#### **4. Discussion**

PICs face unique challenges and have distinct traits, such as narrow-based economies, limited natural resources, fragile ecosystems, reliance on subsistence activities, and remoteness from major markets. Thus, having a framework that encompasses regional characteristics is important when identifying challenges. The ICFPICs created here focused on wave energy on a regional level and is unique in the sense that such a concept has not been attempted yet.

There are different prospective applications for the ICFPICs; it can serve as a tool to identify potential challenges to a project, it can be used to identify key stakeholders, and lastly, it can be combined with the SWOT approach, giving an overview of both the barriers and opportunities for wave energy in the Pacific Island countries. The information gathered during the process of utilizing the framework is useful to create a SWOT matrix, which in turn will give an overview of the feasibility of a wave energy project by further categorizing the data into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
