Electric Boats Could Be Floating Batteries for Island Microgrids
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In developed countries, lights roar to life with the flick of a switch and televisions hum quietly with the touch of a button—given you still have one of those. But on most of Indonesia’s remote islands, accessing electricity is neither simple nor convenient.
For example—prior to 2018, diesel generators provided residents of East Kalimantan’s Berau district with electricity for just four hours a day. That June, a government-backed organization installed new hybrid microgrids, enabling residents to have electricity all day long, pv magazine reported. These hybrid microgrids were composed of photovoltaic solar panels (PVs) to collect energy and lithium-ion batteries to store it.
But there may be another way to power remote islands, especially in the aftermath of natural disasters: boats. Yes, boats.
