10081314Solar2Wave Mid Stage: Demonstration of a Floating Solar Farm in Indonesian Ocean WavesClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKIndonesia has a population of approximately 273.8 million, of which 4 million still lack access to energy. These people live on remote islands, relying on diesel power generation which is expensive and polluting. The high cost dictates that the island residents to have limited electricity. The Solar2Wave project will carry out a Floating PhotoVoltaic (FPV)-based innovation to solve the energy-access issue of Indonesia's remote islands. An FPV farm is fully scalable, as it consists of small individual solar panels. Different sizes of FPV farms can be placed along the coastal line of an island and connected to residents. In particular, the Solar2Wave innovation can ensure that FPV 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. In this Mid Stage Energy Catalyst project, we will construct and operate Indonesia's first FPV site in the ocean, alongside a series of innovations such as incorporating the solar power plant with an ice-making system and seafood farm, an AI-based smart energy management system to manage the energy consumption and storage, and a novel floater material to reduce the cost. We will conduct a trial operation of the system, build robust partnerships and achieve system and cost optimisation through the experience. Based upon this pilot, Solar2Wave will demonstrate the potential to be deployed for more than 6,000 inhabited islands in Indonesia. The innovation will make FPV an appealing solution to replace the country's current 86% of power generation that uses fossil fuels. We can foresee a long-term development of FPV in Indonesia whose coastline is longer than that of any other country, stretching 157,000 km. Eventually, Solar2Wave will boost the world's trend of extrapolating FPV from lakes to seas. The project will help us achieve the Net-Zero goal and mitigate climate change.