TY - JOUR
T1 - How offshore wind could become economically attractive in low-resource regions like Indonesia
AU - Langer, Jannis
AU - Simanjuntak, Sergio
AU - Pfenninger, Stefan
AU - Laguna, Antonio Jarquin
AU - Lavidas, George
AU - Polinder, Henk
AU - Quist, Jaco
AU - Rahayu, Harkunti Pertiwi
AU - Blok, Kornelis
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The current focus of offshore wind industry and academia lies on regions with strong winds, neglecting areas with mild resources. Photovoltaics' cost reductions have shown that even mild resources can be harnessed economically, especially where electricity prices are high. Here, we study the technical and economic potential of offshore wind power in Indonesia as an example of mild-resource areas, using bias-corrected ERA5 data, turbine-specific power curves, and a detailed cost model. We show that low-wind-speed turbines could produce up to 6,816 TWh/year, which is 25 times Indonesia's electricity generation in 2018 and 3 times the projected 2050 generation, and up to 166 PWh/year globally. Although not yet competitive against current offshore turbines, low-wind turbines could become a crucial piece of the global climate mitigation effort in regions with vast marine areas and high electricity prices. As low-wind-speed turbines are not yet on the market, we recommend prioritizing their development.
AB - The current focus of offshore wind industry and academia lies on regions with strong winds, neglecting areas with mild resources. Photovoltaics' cost reductions have shown that even mild resources can be harnessed economically, especially where electricity prices are high. Here, we study the technical and economic potential of offshore wind power in Indonesia as an example of mild-resource areas, using bias-corrected ERA5 data, turbine-specific power curves, and a detailed cost model. We show that low-wind-speed turbines could produce up to 6,816 TWh/year, which is 25 times Indonesia's electricity generation in 2018 and 3 times the projected 2050 generation, and up to 166 PWh/year globally. Although not yet competitive against current offshore turbines, low-wind turbines could become a crucial piece of the global climate mitigation effort in regions with vast marine areas and high electricity prices. As low-wind-speed turbines are not yet on the market, we recommend prioritizing their development.
KW - Energy management
KW - Energy modeling
KW - Energy policy
KW - Energy resources
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136704540&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104945
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104945
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85136704540
SN - 2589-0042
VL - 25
JO - iScience
JF - iScience
IS - 9
M1 - 104945
ER -