Analysis of potential ocean current energy of selected coastal area of Malaysia

Abstract

The potential of selected area of Malaysia coastal was investigated to identify whether Malaysia has a potential to produce renewable energy from ocean, in particular in current energy. The analysis used the data from a device called Acoustic Wave and Acoustic Current (AWAC) that capture the current speed then by using a formulae, amount of energy was calculated. The deployment of AWAC was located at Terengganu Coastal area and Langkawi Island. The data was taken every three months, started from May 2011 to February 2012. From the analysis obtained, it shows that the average current speed and potential energy is 0.1836 mis and 6. 71 W/m2 respectively. It was found that Malaysia's coastal area has a low current speed thus the potential current energy produced is under the recommendation value which is 4 m/s. The study also indicates that the suitable position to get the optimum potential current energy is at intermediate level of water depth.