Wave Energy Potential

Indonesia’s electricity sector has many problems to solve in years to

come. Started from chasing electricity demand in 2050 which has
been predicted up to 2562 TWh in 2050 (900% increasing from
today), until pursuing the renewable energy ratio of 27% at 2050
[Indonesia Energy Outlook, 2019, BaU Prediction]. Indonesia’s
government has been trying to pursue the target by making a program
called 35000 MW of power plant in 2028 and 23% of renewable
energy ratio in 2025. However, the program is seemingly difficult to
achieve since report from National Energy Council concludes that
electricity production just increases 3%, while the demand increases
5% (in 2018), and the renewable energy ratio just reached 12,4% in
2018. Thus, the government, researchers, and stakeholders need to
take action, starting with an acceleration program on pursuing the
closest targets and thinking about how Indonesia could achieve long-
term targets in 2050.
One of many solutions to achieve long-term targets is exploring
potential energy from natural wealth, such as ocean wave energy.
Indonesia has huge ocean wave energy potential since the open
shoreline on south Indonesia reaches 4000 kilometres, approximately.
Ocean wave energy (OWE) is predicted to be the promising ocean
energy due to its high energy and power density, high utilization
factor, and predictable resource [B. Triasdian, et al, 2019]. As a
comparison, Ocean wave energy has a power density 4 times higher
than wind energy [S. Doyle, et al, 2019]. Moreover, Ocean wave energy
is estimated to release 6gCO2 /KWh, much lower than the other non-
renewable power plant which released 250 gCO2 /KWh [S. Astariz, et
al, 2015]. To find out more about ocean wave energy, especially in
Indonesia, this article will discuss the general principle of wave
energy, wave energy potential on shoreline and nearshore Indonesia,
wave energy converter device and its application in other countries,
and finally, this article will investigate the economics of wave energy in
Indonesia.