Indonesia offshore wind energy: Initial wind resource potential perspective from dataset reanalysis

Abstract

As the largest country in Southeast Asia with the longest coastline and also the country with 70% of sea coverage, offshore wind farms are one of the renewable energy options that have not been explored in Indonesia. Three turbines with different rated power and cut-in speeds; NREL 5 MW, LW 8 MW, and DTU 10 MW are used as the baseline for energy analyses. NCEP-NCAR reanalysis from the 1990-2019 dataset is analyzed to explore composite 30 years average, seasonal pattern, extreme wind condition, and wind distribution. This study found that even though Indonesia is located in an equatorial zone which is known as a marginal wind speed area, three areas are found to be potential offshore wind farm locations: Aceh, Southern Java, and Southern Papua. The wind speed will be higher in the dry season rather than the wet season. Each location has different wind speed distribution, however, 86% in Aceh, 80% in Southern Java, and 81% in Southern Papua are above the cut-in speed for the NREL 5 MW. No extreme wind speed above 25 m/s in each potential location.