Innovate UK’s Energy Catalyst program has awarded a little over $500,000 in grant funding for a project that will seek to develop Indonesia’s first fully offshore floating solar farm.
The grant funding was approved for the Solar2Wave project, led by Achelous Energy, for the construction and operation of Indonesia's first floating solar site in the ocean.
The project, where French company HelioRec is technology lead, will also incorporate a series of innovations such as AI-based smart energy management system to manage the energy consumption and storage, novel floater material to reduce costs, and combining the solar power plant with an ice-making system and seafood farm.
Aside from HelioRec and Achelous Energy, the project includes Cranfield University, Gerbang Multindo Nusantara, Orela Shipyard, Pattimura University, and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember as partners.
“In particular, the Solar2Wave innovation can ensure that floating solar panels remain intact from incident ocean waves, and thus provide a sustainable solution.
“By providing energy access to Indonesia's remote islands, Solar2Wave will bring improvements to the economy, working conditions, education, health services, and hazard resilience,” it is stated in the project description.
The project will involve a trial operation of the system, seek to build robust partnerships and achieve system and cost optimization through its 18-month duration.
Based upon this pilot, Solar2Wave will seek to prove its potential for deployment at more than 6,000 inhabited islands in Indonesia, aiming to make these types of plants as appealing solution to replace the country's current 86% of power generation that uses fossil fuels.
Energy Catalyst is an Innovate UK program funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) under the Ayrton Fund, part of the UK’s International Climate Finance commitment.