Photovoltaic Power Potential Analysis in Equator Territorial: Case Study of Makassar City, Indonesia

Solar power energy in some countries can be the most potential renewable energy to overcome lack of energy and environmental problems. Indonesia is one of the examples. One of the promising cities to install photovoltaic (PV) systems is Makassar, which has average 5.83 kWh/m2/day of solar irradiance (Meyta, 2011). However, until 2016, there is still no solar panel installation in Makassar (PLN, 2015). In addition, general lack of research in assessing potential of PV systems in Makassar makes PV system difficult to develop. This study therefore set out to assess PV system potential in Makassar which its objectives are to determine 1) total available area for rooftop and large-scale PV systems in Makassar, 2) economy feasibility and 3) environmental impact due to PV installation. Three cases have been analyzed in this study, first, PV systems for residential rooftop, second, PV systems for large-scale (mega solar) in Makassar, and third, PV systems for large scale in outside Makassar and radius 20 km from center of Makassar. ArcGIS10.3 software is carried out to estimate available area for PV installation. Furthermore, RetScreen 4 software was used to conduct PV system capacity and its energy yield and to evaluate economy analysis such as internal rate of return and cost of energy. As the result, the total available area for residential rooftop PV system is evaluated to be 13.8 km2, which potential installed capacity is estimated to be 2044 MW. Total available area for large-scale PV system in Makassar and outside Makassar are 19.3 km2 and 231.3 km2, which estimated 851 MW and 10,179 MW of installed capacity, respectively.