(introduction...)

The twelve Pacific island countries (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Western Samoa) covered by the Pacific regional energy assessment (PREA) have many features in common—for example, they all consist of a number of islands—but they also differ in size, population, and physical characteristics. I l The size of the islands varies considerably. For example, Kiribati consists of 33 islands in three main groups, and Fiji has about 300 islands, though most of the population and economic activity are concentrated on the two largest ones. All the countries are far from the major markets in Europe, North America, and Japan, although some are relatively close to two industrialized countries, Australia and New Zealand.