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Guam   Guam Profile

Territory Profile and Energy Estimates

Changes to the State Energy Data System (SEDS) Notice: In October 2023, we updated the way we calculate primary energy consumption of electricity generation from noncombustible renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal). Visit our Changes to 1960—2022 conversion factor for renewable energy page to learn more.

Profile AnalysisPrint Territory Energy Profile
(overview, data, & analysis)

Last Updated: March 21, 2024

Overview

Guam imports petroleum products to meet almost all of its energy needs.

Guam, the largest among the thousands of small western Pacific islands that are collectively known as Micronesia, is located in the Pacific Ocean about 5,800 miles west of San Francisco and 1,600 miles east of Manila, Philippines.1,2 The island became a U.S. territory in 1898. Guam is close to the International Date Line. As a result, it is the first place in the United States to see each new day, which is why Guam is known as the place "Where America's Day Begins."3 Guam has no fossil energy resources and meets nearly all of its energy needs—including the fuel for generating most of its electricity—with imported petroleum products.4,5 However, Guam is increasing its use of renewable energy resources for electricity generation.6,7

Surrounded by coral reefs, Guam sits on the southern edge of the Mariana Trench and is near the Challenger Deep, which lies nearly 7 miles below the surface of the ocean and is the deepest known place on earth. Guam, like the neighboring Mariana Islands, is the top of an undersea mountain, part of a volcanic subsea range stretching northwest toward Japan. At 30 miles long and 4 to 12 miles wide, the territory has about three times the land area of Washington, DC.8,9,10 Guam has a tropical marine climate that is warm and humid with little variation in seasonal temperatures that range between 70oF and 90oF throughout the year. The rainy season runs from May to November and can bring devastating typhoons.11 Guam recorded one of the world's highest measured wind speeds, 230 miles per hour, when Super Typhoon Paka struck the island in 1997.12 Typhoon Mawar, which was one of the strongest Northern Hemisphere cyclones recorded in the month of May, struck the northern coast of Guam in May 2023 with winds up to 140 mph.13

Guam has a population of about 154,000, plus about 22,000 U.S. military personnel and their families.14 Tourism and the U.S. military are the two largest contributors to Guam's economy. Tourism brought in a record of nearly 1.7 million visitors in 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic kept many tourists away from Guam since early 2020. Guam had about 657,000 visitor arrivals in 2023, which was more than eight times greater than the pandemic low of 79,000 visitors in 2021. Almost fourth-fifths of the island's tourists arrive from South Korea and Japan.15,16 U.S. military plans to relocate thousands of its personnel from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam will bring more people to the island.17,18,19,20,21 The military accounts for about one-fifth of Guam's energy consumption.22 Total per capita energy consumption on Guam is about half that of the 50 U.S. states.23

Petroleum

Motor gasoline and diesel fuel account for most of Guam’s petroleum consumption.

Guam has no crude oil reserves, petroleum production, or refineries.24,25 The island's only port, located at Apra, receives all of the territory's imported petroleum products, which come primarily from Asia.26,27 Motor gasoline typically accounts for about two-fifths of petroleum sales on the island. Sales of diesel fuel—used mostly to generate electricity—also make up almost two-fifths of Guam's petroleum sales. Jet fuel accounts for about one-fifth and propane makes up most of the rest of the island's petroleum sales.28 In 2012, the Guam government set a goal to reduce petroleum consumption 20% from 2010 levels by 2020, which was met.29,30 To reach the goal, Guam sought to increase the efficiency of vehicles on the island, improve traffic flows, reduce vehicle miles traveled, increase biodiesel use, and generate less electricity from petroleum.31

Electricity

About four-fifths of Guam’s electricity generating capacity runs on fossil fuels and the rest is fueled by renewables.

The Guam Power Authority (GPA), a public corporation overseen by the elected Consolidated Commission on Utilities (CCU) and regulated by the Guam Public Utilities Commission (PUC), provides all of Guam's electricity. GPA owns and manages the island's electric grid, which is made up of about 1,800 miles of transmission and distribution lines. The utility has about 465 megawatts of generation capacity. Diesel fuel and residual fuel oil are the source of fuel for about four-fifths of GPA's generating capacity and renewables account for the rest.32

GPA continues to rebuild and expand its generating assets after an August 2015 explosion and fire at the utility's main Cabras power plant that destroyed two of the station's four generating units.33 GPA lost about one-seventh of its generating capacity, leaving the island with periodic power rationing and localized power outages.34,35,36 In 2021, GPA received approval from regulators for a new power plant to replace all four of the Cabras generating units, which had a combined generating capacity of 212 megawatts. The new Ukudu replacement power plant will have a generating capacity of 198 megawatts and can run on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and liquefied natural gas. The plant was scheduled to come online in 2024, but damage caused by Typhoon Mawar in 2023 delayed the plant's operating date until late 2025.37,38,39,40 Separately, about 85 megawatts of generating capacity at two existing solar power farms and more than 100 megawatts of planned solar capacity and related battery energy storage over the next several years will help offset the loss of the Cabras plant's generating capacity.41

Guam's residential electricity costs, including fuel surcharges, are more than two times higher than the U.S. average, although Guam's residential electricity rates are typically the lowest among the nearby Pacific islands.42,43 Because petroleum products generate nearly all of Guam's electricity, GPA imposes a fuel surcharge that can be adjusted every six months to reflect changes in petroleum costs. Guam's electricity rates decreased in 2023 for the first time since rates increased in early 2021 after fuel prices rose. Guam's legislature in mid-2022 authorized $100 a month in credits on power customers' utility bills to help partially offset the high rates. Those credits ended at the close of 2023, although there were efforts in early 2024 to have the legislature continue the subsidy program.44,45,46,47,48

GPA had nearly 53,000 electricity customers in 2022.49 The commercial sector, which includes hotels, restaurants, and private office buildings, was the largest consumer of electricity in 2022 and accounted for 36% of the island's electricity use. Residential households made up 32% of electricity consumption. The U.S. military accounted for 20% of electricity use and the Guam government accounted for 12%.50

Renewable energy

In 2023, Guam updated its Renewable Portfolio Standard to have 100% of its electricity sales generated by renewables by 2040.

In 2008, Guam's legislature enacted a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) goal for renewable sources to generate 8% of the island's electricity sales by the end of 2020. The renewable goal would increase to 10% of electricity sales by 2025 and to 25% by 2035. In 2019, Guam's legislature updated the voluntary standard so renewables would provide 50% of the island's electricity sales by 2035 and 100% by 2045. In late 2023, the legislature moved the 100% target five years earlier to 2040. The RPS recognizes solar, wind, biomass, wave energy, and ocean thermal energy as acceptable renewable sources to meet the standard.51,52,53,54 In 2021, renewables accounted for about 6% of Guam's electricity generation.55

In 2015, Guam's first commercial solar PV facility—the 26-megawatt Dandan solar farm with more than 120,000 solar panels—began operating.56 The facility can generate enough electricity to serve an estimated 10,000 homes.57 The 60-megawatt Mangilao solar farm came online in 2022, and the planned 41-megawatt Malojloj solar farm is scheduled to be completed by December 2025.58,59,60 GPA plans to procure 180 megawatts of new renewable generating capacity by 2027, which in addition to solar energy could include biomass, wind, geothermal, and wave energy.61

Guam has substantial wind power potential but also has unique wind turbine siting issues. The island is seismically active and is in the Pacific's Typhoon Alley, so wind turbines must be engineered to withstand both earthquakes and typhoon-force winds. Wind turbine siting must also consider impacts on military facilities, endangered species, and other local environmental concerns. Another challenge is maintaining reliability of the island's small electric grid given the variability of wind power.62 As a result there is little wind generation in Guam. However, in early 2016 GPA inaugurated a wind pilot project—a single 275-kilowatt turbine in the Cotal region of Yona—that can generate enough power for 50 homes.63,64 In late 2022, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that was signed into law opening the offshore waters around Guam, along with the other U.S. territories of American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to wind power development. The U.S. Department of the Interior will hold wind lease sales in the territories' waters by September 2025, depending on interest from energy companies.65

GPA offers net metering and pays its customers for surplus power they generate from small-scale solar, wind, and other customer-sited renewable generation installations. The surplus power is distributed on the island's grid.66 All new net metering systems connected to the grid after June 2020 are required to have energy storage batteries to improve the reliability of electricity supplies.67

Natural gas

Guam has no natural gas reserves and does not produce or use natural gas.68 GPA plans to have a new 198-megawatt power plant in service in late 2025 that is capable of burning either imported ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel or liquefied natural gas (LNG) that is regasifed to generate electricity.69,70 The new plant will enable the utility to comply with U.S. federal environmental requirements to release fewer greenhouse emissions while using either fuel.71

Coal

Guam has no coal reserves and does not produce or use coal.72,73

Endnotes

1 Foster, Sophie, and Dirk Anthony Ballendorf, Guam, Encyclopedia Britannica, updated February 7, 2024.
2 U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Guam, Geography, updated February 13, 2024.
3 Guam Economic Development Authority, About Guam, accessed February 12, 2024.
4 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), International Energy Statistics, Guam, 2021 primary energy data in quadrillion Btu, Coal, Dry natural gas, Petroleum & other liquids.
5 U.S. EIA, International Energy Statistics, Guam, Electricity, Generation (billion kWh), 2017¬-21.
6 Guam Power Authority, 2022 Integrated Resource Plan, accessed February 12, 2024.
7 DeRivi, Tanya, "Guam Power Authority bolsters resilience and charts path to 50% renewables," American Public Power Association (May 3, 2021).
8 Foster, Sophie, and Dirk Anthony Ballendorf, Guam, Encyclopedia Britannica, updated February 7, 2024.
9 Guampedia, Geography of Guam, accessed February 12, 2024.
10 U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Guam, Geography, updated February 13, 2024.
11 Foster, Sophie, and Dirk Anthony Ballendorf, Guam, Land, Encyclopedia Britannica, updated February 7, 2024.
12 "Tropical cyclone projections: changing climate threats for Pacific island defense installations," Weather, Climate, and Society (Volume 11, Issue 1, January 2019), Climate variability, p. 6.
13 Taitano, Joe, "'Long night' ahead: Extreme wind warning for northern Guam in effect until 10:45 p.m.," Guam Daily Post (May 28, 2023).
14 Military Installations, Joint Region Marianas - Naval Base Guam, Installation Details, Population, accessed February 12, 2024.
15 Guam Economic Development Authority, Why Invest in Guam?, accessed February 12, 2024.
16 Guam Visitors Bureau, Calendar Year 2023 Summary, p. 1.
17 Underwood, Robert, Ken Kuper, and Leland Bettis, "More than the numbers: Guam and the FY 2024 NDAA," Guam Daily Post (January 17, 2024).
18 Staff Reports, "Marine Corps activates Camp Blaz in Dededo, first new Marine Corps base since 1952," Pacific Daily News (October 1, 2020).
19 "Military: Development of Marine Corps base on Guam on track," The Guam Daily Post (March 30, 2021).
20 Kaur, Anumita, "Guam split on Marine Corps relocation," Pacific Daily News (April 9, 2021).
21 Congressional Research Service, Guam: Defense Infrastructure and Readiness (August 3, 2023), p. 1.
22 Baring-Gould, Ian, et al., Guam Initial Technical Assessment Report, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL/TP-7A40-50580 (April 2011), p. 2.
23 U.S. EIA, International Energy Statistics, Guam, Energy intensity, Energy consumption per capita, 2017-21.
24 U.S. EIA, Guam Profile Data, Reserves, Supply, accessed February 13, 2024.
25 U.S. EIA, Number and Capacity of Petroleum Refineries, Guam, as of January 1, 2023.
26 Port Authority of Guam, About PAG, accessed February 13, 2024.
27 Observatory of Economic Complexity, Refined Petroleum in Guam, Imports, accessed February 13, 2024.
28 Guam Energy Office, Fuel and Power Data Compilation, 2021 Fuel Sales by Petroleum Companies.
29 Conrad, Misty Dawn, and Sean Esterly, Guam Strategic Energy Plan (July 2013), p. i.
30 U.S. EIA, International Energy Statistics, Guam, Petroleum and other liquids consumption (Mb/d), 2010, 2020.
31 Johnson, Caley, Guam Transportation Petroleum-Use Reduction Plan, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL/TP-7A30-57191 (April 2013), Executive Summary, p. iii, 1.
32 Guam Power Authority, 2022 Annual Report, GPA Overview, p. 8.
33 Borja, John, "Guam Power Authority on Long Road to Renewables," Pacific Daily News (May 14, 2017).
34 Daleno, Gaynor Dumat-ol, "Power Supply Vulnerable; More Outages Possible," Pacific Daily News (April 14, 2016).
35 Daleno, Gaynor Dumat-ol, "PUC to GPA: Cut Cost," Pacific Daily News (October 30, 2015).
36 Daleno, Gaynor Dumat-ol, "Rented Power Plant to Go on Line Soon," Pacific Daily News (December 20, 2015).
37 Guam Power Authority, 2022 Annual Report, p. 4, 14.
38 Guam Power Authority, "Kepco Breaks Ground, Cuts Ribbon on Power Projects," Press release (July 20, 2022).
39 O'Connor, John, "GPA aims to extend operation of its aged Cabras plant in Piti," The Guam Daily Post (July 6, 2023).
40 Onedera, Kobe, "Guam Power Authority: Precautionary 1-Hour rotating schedule extends through February," KUAM (February 1, 2024).
41 Guam Power Authority, 2022 Annual Report, p. 8, 14.
42 Guam Power Authority, 2022 Annual Report, Regional Rate Comparison-As of September 30, 2022, p. 10.
43 U.S. EIA, Electric Power Annual 2022 (October 19, 2023), Table 12.6, Guam, Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers (cents per kilowatthour), and Table 2.4, U.S., Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers.
44 Castro, David, "Power rate increased proposed," The Guam Daily Post (November 24, 2023).
45 Guam Power Authority, Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause (LEAC), accessed February 14, 2024.
46 O'Connor, John, "Parkinson proposes another extension to energy credit program," The Guam Daily Post (December 3, 2023).
47 O'Connor, John, "Energy credit extension fails to make agenda," The Guam Daily Post (February 19, 2024).
48 O'Connor, John, "November energy credit applied, GPA says 1 more left," The Guam Daily Post (December 29, 2023).
49 U.S. EIA, Electric Power Annual 2022 (October 19, 2023), Table 12.6, Guam, Number of Ultimate Customers.
50 Guam Power Authority, 2022 Annual Report, Attachment: Guam Power Authority, Financial Statements, Required Supplementary Information, and Supplementary and Other Information, Years Ended September 30, 2022, Schedule of Sales of Electricity, Annual Electric Sales in kWh, p. F65.
51 DSIRE, NC Clean Energy Technology Center, Guam-Renewable Energy Portfolio Goal (updated May 6, 2015).
52 National Conference of State Legislatures, State Renewable Portfolio Standards and Goals, Guam, Enabling Statute or Order: Guam Public Law §29-62, updated August 13, 2021.
53 Cruz, Philip, "A vision of Guam future: Embarking on 100% green energy path by 2045," Pacific Island Times (November 24, 2023).
54 "Guam sets new target to reach 100% renewables by 2040," Pacific Island Times (December 6, 2023).
55 U.S. EIA, International Energy Statistics, Electricity, Guam, Generation, 2017-21.
56 "NRG Renew Completes Guam's First On-Island Solar Facility," The Weekly Junction (October 12, 2015).
57 Guam Power Authority, 2015 Annual Report, p. 20.
58 O'Connor, John, "Solar plant that can power 14K homes to rev up in June," The Guam Daily Post (May 28, 2022).
59 O'Connor, John, "CCU authorizes GPA to petition PUC for approval to make changes in solar agreement," The Guam Daily Post (November 4, 2023).
60 Taitano, Joe, "GPA will work to salvage unfinished solar farm project," Pacific Daily News (January 28, 2024).
61 Guam Power Authority, 2022 Annual Report, p. 14.
62 Baring-Gould, Ian, et al., Guam Initial Technical Assessment Report, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL/TP-7A40-50580 (April 2011), p. 30, 31.
63 U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, WINDExchange, Wind Energy in Guam, accessed February 16, 2024.
64 Losinio, Louella, "Cotal wind turbine back in operation," The Guam Daily Post (January 17, 2019).
65 Webster, Joseph, and Elina Carpen, "Does the IRA make US offshore wind the "next big thing?" Atlantic Council (October 25, 2022).
66 DSIRE, NC Clean Energy Technology Center, Guam-Net Metering (updated January 4, 2024).
67 O'Connor, John, "CCU approves battery requirement for solar-powered homes," The Guam Daily Post (February 27, 2020).
68 U.S. EIA, International Energy Statistics, Guam, Natural gas reserves (tcf), 2021, Dry natural gas production (bcf), 2021, Dry natural gas consumption (bcf), 2021.
69 O'Connor, John, "GPA aims to extend operation of its aged Cabras plant in Piti," The Guam Daily Post (July 6, 2023).
70 O'Connor, John, "Cabras 2 offline for overhaul," The Guam Daily Post (January 12, 2023).
71 Daily Post Staff, "Justice Department files GPA settlement; agency must pay $400K," The Guam Daily Post (February 10, 2020).
72 U.S. EIA, International Energy Statistics, Guam, Coal and coke, Production, Consumption, 2021.
73 U.S. EIA, International Energy Statistics, Guam, Coal and coke, Coal reserves, 2021.