Renewable energy (RE) resources are becoming inexorable in the field of generating electrical power due to the vast development of technology, given to its advantages over non-renewable energy resources. Aside from being eco-friendly, renewable energies are non-depletable unlike conventional energy resources, not only becoming exhaustible and degrading each day but also pollute the environment. Though the source is available in enormous amount, the energy produced from single renewable energy resources such as tidal current may fluctuate with the time and hour of the day or month, depending on the tides. Thus, by having a Smart Monitoring Advanced Renewable Technology-Energy (SMART-ENERGY) system consisting of four or more renewable energy resources coming into play at the same time would be more reliable to support the targeted area. However, the availability of renewable energies depends on climate change, therefore having a backup power is often essential. In this case, the main purpose of this research is to develop an off-grid hybrid ocean current, solar power, wave, and wind and salinity system along with backup sources to support One Fathom Bank (OFB) Lighthouse with the intention to eliminate the usage of diesel generators as a main current source to the building. Preliminary studies are necessary to assess the effectiveness of energy resources in the OFB area to research and implement renewable energy programs. The study will involve energy consumption requirements used by the OFB lighthouse. After the preliminary study, data collection for the required standard of marine energy sources will be identified, the development of the lab scale modules will be individually developed and then integrated to build the SMART-ENERGYprototype. This prototype will be initially tested in the lab and hence deploy in the OFB for experimental studies. Having the ability to evaluate the economic and technical feasibility of power system, the simulation will be used to run the simulation and analyze the most optimum configuration of hybrid power system based on the best components and sizing with an appropriate operating strategy to provide an efficient, reliable and cost-effective system as prospective plans in this study.

 Background and Rationality of the Project

Fossil fuel resources in the country are depleting aggressively, which increase the search for other renewable energy sources, especially marine renewable energy or MRE. Malaysia also has abundant domestic renewable energy resources including solar ocean thermal energy, solar PV, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass [3]. Potential MRE areas in Malaysia have been identified in the area along the Strait of Melaka, Sarawak, and Sabah. Strait of Melaka is the longest strait in the world with an average depth of 25 meters in the southern part to reach up to 200 meters to the north of Peninsular Malaysia [2, 4]. According to findings from Minerals and Geoscience Department Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak [1, 5, 7], areas such as Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Pangkor, Port Klang, Malacca, and Sandakan have a minimum flow rate of 0.4 m/s [6]. Whereas in Sabah and Sarawak, there are a number of potential areas for MRE such as in Sejingkat, Coastline of Sarawak, Tawau, Kota Belud and Jambong Pulau Sibu [2, 7] in Sabah. The west coast of Peninsular Malaysia also has a suitable location. For example, Redang Island has been identified as a suitable location because Chagar Bay has a tidal current circulation between 0.16 to 0.48 m/s. Using the current speed approach, the study at Port Klang and Tanjung Keling showed equally promising results of 57% and 80% power availability. However, the results at Kukup and Pangkor are less optimistic, with an average power availability of 43% and 19%.

Development of renewable energy facilities in remote or distant areas or places such as One Fathom Bank (OFB) lighthouse has high economic potential. The costs of diesel power generation, which provides energy supply in remote areas, are higher than the costs of using renewable energy resources, which are widely available in such areas, e.g. solar, wind, tidal and wave energy. The main drivers for the development of renewable energy for OFB are: a) the need to secure energy supply to remote areas with autonomous power generating units and regions with a power deficit; b) increasing fuel prices and energy tariffs for all types of consumers and existing limitations on establishing new grid connections; c) environmental issues. An initial preliminary study on marine current turbine (MCT) power was conducted by OTEC for Jabatan Laut Malaysia in 2017. The study concluded that the most suitable place for the implementation of MCT technology is located at the One Fathom Bank. The bathymetric and coastal morphology conditions in One Fathom Bank are influenced by the tidal characteristic of the prevailing North-West current in the Straits of Malacca. Due to various renewable energy sources are demonstrated at the ocean and also to support the green environment, this motivates the proposed program to build the hybrid solution including the monitoring of the energy sources, particularly for the lighthouse.

Program Objectives

1. To conduct feasibility studies on energy resources nearby One Fathom Bank (OFB) such as solar, tidal, wave and wind for SMART-EnergyModule.
2. To analyze energy efficiency and energy consumption of the proposed energy resources for SMART-Energy module via simulation and modeling.
3. To design and develop a lab scale of SMART- Energy module for OFB.
4. To validate performance and ROI (return on investment) analysis for the proposed SMART- Energy module with current conventional energy

Program Description

The proposed smart energy module will consist of 4 types of RE as shown in Figure 1 below. As illustrated in Figure 2, Project 1 is about solar energy and the integration of all four REs from Project 1 until 4 into the SMART-Energy Module. Finally, Project 5 will do performance and ROI analysis of proposed SMART-Energy module with current conventional energy.

Figure1 SMART Module