Indonesia has launched an ambitious plan to tap the vast power of its volcanoes and become a world leader in geothermal energy, while trimming greenhouse gas emissions.
The sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands stretching from the Indian to the Pacific oceans contains hundreds of volcanoes, estimated to hold around 40 percent of the world’s geothermal energy potential.
So far, however, only a tiny fraction of that potential has been unlocked, so the government is seeking help from private investors, the World Bank and partners like Japan and the US to exploit the power hidden deep underground.
PHOTO: AFP
“The government’s aim to add 4,000 megawatts [MW] of geothermal capacity from the existing 1,189MW by 2014 is truly challenging,” Indonesian Geothermal Association chief Surya Darma said.
One of the biggest obstacles is the cost. Indonesia currently relies on dirty coal-fired power plants using locally produced coal. A geothermal plant costs about twice as much and can take many more years in research and development to get online.
Once established, however, geothermal plants like the one built in Kamojang, Java, in 1982 can convert the endless free supplies of volcanic heat into electricity with much lower overheads — and less pollution — than coal.
This is the pay-off the government is hoping to sell at the fourth World Geothermal Congress opening today on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. The six-day event will attract some 2,000 people from more than 80 countries.
“An investment of US$12 billion is needed to add 4,000MW capacity,” energy analyst Herman Darnel Ibrahim said, putting into context the recent announcement of US$400 million in financing from lenders including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“Field exploration can take from three to five years, suitability studies for funding takes a year, while building the plant itself takes three years,” he added.
If there is any country in the world where geothermal makes sense it is Indonesia. Yet despite its natural advantages, it lags behind the US and the Philippines in geothermal energy production. Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the world’s third biggest greenhouse gas emitter exploits only seven geothermal fields out of more than 250 it could be developing.
The case for geothermal has become stronger with the rapid growth of Indonesia’s economy and the corresponding strain on its creaking power infrastructure.
The archipelago of 234 million people is one of the fastest growing economies in the Group of 20 but currently only 65 percent of Indonesians have access to electricity.
The goal is to reach 90 percent of the population by the end of the decade, through a two-stage plan to “fast-track” the provision of an extra 10,000 MW by 2012, mostly through coal, and another 10,000 MW from clean sources like volcanoes by 2014.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent against 2005 levels by 2020 has also spurred the push to geothermal.
Many of the best geothermal sources lie in protected forests, so the government aims to allow the drilling of wells inside conservation areas while insisting that the power plants themselves be outside.
Geothermal fans welcomed the recent completion of negotiations between a consortium of US, Japanese and Indonesian companies and the state electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara, over a 340 MW project on Sumatra island.
The Sarulla project will be Indonesia’s second biggest geothermal plant, after the Wayang Windu facility in West Java.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS