Real Time Monitoring of Salinity Gradient and Solar Pond Temperatures

Abstract

Electric energy is an important factor for human needs, functions as lighting, and various human activities. The large amount of electrical energy needs demands to create various alternative electrical energy. Alternative energy uses renewable energy sources to avoid crisis and energy scarcity. The National Energy Policy (KEN) has encouraged the government and the private sector and the public to use energy effectively and efficiently, and to utilize renewable energy. The direction of national energy policy includes reducing dependence on fossil fuels, specifically petroleum. Utilization of renewable energy is needed for the sustainability of national energy supply and reserves. Indonesia is called a maritime country, because 2/3 of Indonesia’s territory is the sea with the longest coastline in the world, which is ± 80,791. 42 Km and is also called an archipelagic country because it has thousands of islands. This natural situation is a great potential for the development of renewable energy, especially the energy sourced from the sea spread wide and very abundant, namely solar pond. One of the alternative sources of renewable energy sourced from the sea currently not developed in Indonesia is solar ponds, even though Indonesia has a huge geographical potential to develop this technology. There are at least two potential parameters for building a solar pond, first because Indonesia has a tropical climate with a large enough intensity of sun, second because Indonesia is a maritime country surrounded by sea, so the availability of raw water is very abundant. Solar pond is not a new power generation technology. In the history of electricity generation technology in Indonesia, this technology has never been tested and implemented at all. In this study, it has a long-term goal of generating electricity from solar ponds. Solar pond technology is a type of environmentally friendly power plant, based on seawater using sunlight to get the difference in heat in the solar pool so that the thermal layer can be converted into electrical energy. The specific targets, namely data salinity and temperature data on the prototype solar pond have been realized in the form of cylindrical with a height of 1. 05m and a diameter of 0. 8 meters. Solar pool research, in line with the goal of national transformation as a significant contributor to the benefit of the Indonesian Maritime Continent. In line with the development of electricity generation technology, solar pond technology has never been implemented in Indonesia, so this research is in accordance with the 2016-2020 National Strategic Plan number 51868 / UN4. 1 / PR. 04 / 2016.