Indonesia – Energy is a substantial element in every aspect of human’s daily life and an absolute need in a sustainable national and global development. As the increasing number of population in Indonesia, the demand of energy supply such as electricity and fuel is also rise. Based on 2016 data, the current usage of renewable energy management in Indonesia was very low – 7.7% compare to the fossil energy (petroleum, natural gas and coal). The next question is will this increasing need in line with the available fossil energy supply?
Undeniably the effort to reduce fossil energy usage and its conversion through renewable energy must be conducted. Looking at its geographic location, Indonesia has great potential in renewable energy development according to the International Renewable Energy Agency and able to produce 716 GW energy from photo voltaic solar, hydro power, bio energy, geothermal, sea wave and wind. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Government has targeted the renewable energy usage must reach 23% in 2025. Therefore, the technology development of renewable energy management is very significant to be improved.
Based on its vision to be the center of excellence for knowledge, technology, and culture as the solution to national and global problems and challenges, Universitas Indonesia (UI) has strategic targets to improve research quality and nature in producing applicable innovations for people including technology development of renewable energy management. This was demonstrated by winning the Go Green in the City (GGITC) 2018 by Schneider Electric in Jakarta which consisted of 100 participating universities and as a result represented Indonesia on the final selection in Asia Pacific. The event was a global renewable energy competition which aimed to improve and facilitate the youth’s interest in finding an innovative and efficient energy management solution for urban area. The UI-RISE team invented Smart Memory Alloy for Reliable Trackers (SMART) – a solar panel project which flexible in following the sun rotation and improving 18% electricity production compare to the conventional system. The project was created to answer the needs problem of alternative resource energy and electricity access equality in rural area by maximizing solar panel absorption.
Moreover, on last September UI also invented technology in renewable energy management in transportation. The Hydros Team has created two ships called HeavyWeight Mark III and LightWeight Mark II and achieved second place in the world ship competition “Hydro contest 2018” in Saint Tropez, France among 28 teams from 15 countries. Both are flat ships – UI’s typical ship with mono hull semi-trimaran design which aims to get well stability and cost-effective by maximizing the water energy usage. The flat form also eliminated bending process which resulted easier and cheaper production process that fit to be apply in Indonesia. The HeavyWeight ship was created for heavyweight race which carried 200 kgs weight and consisted of water tunnel feature to maximize the water flow for propulsion. Meanwhile, the LightWeight ship was created for lightweight race and carried 20 kgs weight with symmetric catamaran concept which equipped by hydrofoil to improve the ship speed and to inverted axebow feature to break the sea water wave. It is expected that the ships could be operated in high efficiency level.