Marine Energy for Coastal Communities on Small Islands
Ocean energy is the energy contained in sea water bodies. What is meant in this case are ocean currents, tides, ocean waves, sea heat and differences in salinity. Utilization of marine energy can be done by converting the contained potential or kinetic energy using a conversion technology such as turbines (ocean currents) or point absorbers (waves).
Indonesia has a large sea area. With the vastness of the sea owned, there is a lot of potential contained in it. Of course, this makes the use of marine energy very potential to be developed. Indonesia's marine energy potential reaches 60 GW (Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources). The use of marine energy to generate electricity will be very beneficial in in-situ use. This means that the use of marine energy is intended to supply electricity to local coastal communities. Not only that, marine energy tends to be more predictable for its potential generation, especially tides and ocean heat. This makes the utilization of this energy more reliable than wind energy or solar energy.
The concept offered for the in-situ use of a power plant sourced from marine energy is to utilize the energy potential of a certain area. For example, in a certain area there is sufficient tidal energy potential to meet the electricity needs of the area. So then it can be studied what kind of technology is suitable to be used in converting tidal energy into electricity. Then the electricity generated can be distributed off-grid or on-grid. If the use of marine energy is intended for the electrification of coastal communities in small islands, the use of an off-grid system is more attractive because it does not depend on electricity supply from large islands.
The development of marine energy will be beneficial in reducing carbon emissions that have been announced by the government, namely net zero emission in 2060. This is because marine energy is a renewable energy that is minimal in producing carbon emissions. In addition, marine thermal energy also has the advantage of producing energy stably throughout the year. Not only that, marine heat conversion technology can also produce several other products besides electrical energy, such as desalinated water, irrigation needs, and other industrial needs. So that the use of marine energy, especially OTEC can meet other needs for coastal communities besides the need for electrical energy.
In the development of marine energy conversion technology, there are several points that need to be considered. The main thing is the characteristics of the contained marine energy potential. For example, an area must have a different energy potential from other areas. So in designing a plan it is necessary to study what energy has the most potential and what technology is most suitable. This is because marine energy has very site-specific properties. In addition, the construction of power plants should not interfere with the activities of coastal communities so that environmental impact analysis studies must be carried out very carefully.
Although the use of marine energy has many benefits, the realization of this technology is still very low. This is caused by several factors, including production and maintenance factors which are more expensive than power plants sourced from other energies. Another factor that hinders the development of this technology is that the most efficient design for extracting marine energy has not yet been found. Therefore, currently a lot of research is being carried out that focuses on increasing efficiency in converting marine energy into electricity. So that in the future, the utilization of marine energy which has a lot of potential can be utilized optimally. Especially for coastal communities in small islands so that they do not depend on electricity supply from big islands.
