ICI pertanyakan komitmen Bank Dunia

[ Bisnis Indonesia ]

Oleh: Nurbaiti

JAKARTA (Bisnis.com): Masyarakat Perbatubaraan Indonesia (Indonesia Coal Society/ICI) mempertanyakan implementasi komitmen Bank Dunia yang menyiapkan dana sekitar US$200 juta-US$300 juta untuk membantu Indonesia meningkatkan efisiensi energi dan menekan penggunaan emisi gas rumah kaca.

Dalam laporan yang disampaikan oleh Senior Energy Specialist Bank Dunia Xiaodong Wang, Bank Dunia menyarankan agar Indonesia mengubah tren konsumsi energi dari batu bara ke energi terbarukan, seperti penggunaan geothermal dan gas alam.

Menurut Direktur ICI Singgih Widagdo, dukungan Bank Dunia terhadap pengurangan emisi gas rumah kaca di Indonesia sampai 26% seharusnya juga bisa direalisasikan tanpa harus mengurangi penggunaan batu bara sebagai sumber energi.

Pasalnya, katanya, rerata produksi batu bara Indonesia jauh lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan tingkat kebutuhan.

“Terus terang kami respect dengan segala upaya apapun untuk mendukung pengurangan emisi gas rumah kaca. Pertanyaannya sekarang, apakah komitmen Bank Dunia itu real dan implementasinya seperti apa? Saya melihat yang benar-benar renewable energy di Indonesia itu kan geothermal dan batu bara tidak. Tetapi persoalannya, geothermal kan berhadapan dengan regulasi,” katanya hari ini.

Di sisi lain, dia melanjutkan penggunaan batu bara sebagai energi ramah lingkungan hanya terkendala dengan keterbatasan teknologi karena, mengingat tingkat produksinya cukup tinggi.

Menurut dia, Bank Dunia seharusnya juga bisa meningkatkan pemanfaatan batu bara tanpa harus merusak lingkungan dengan meminimalkan biaya dengan bantuan transfer teknologi.

“Itu [implementasi teknologi] yang belum terjawab. Kalau hanya sekedar pemanfaatan geothermal, masih bermasalah dengan regulasi. Batu bara itu, produksinya terlanjur tinggi sekali dibandingkan dengan demand. Sekarang, seberapa jauh Bank Dunia bisa berbuat sehingga batu bara lebih dipandang sebagai energi ramah lingkungan, bukan sebagai komoditas,” tutur Singgih.

Sementara itu, Senior Energy Specialist Bank Dunia Xiaodong Wang dalam laporannya mengatakan komitmen Bank Dunia itu sejalan dengan potensi sumber panas bumi terbesar duni yang dimiliki Indonesia.

Selain itu, katanya, pemerintah juga memiliki cetak biru untuk mengembangkan tenaga panas bumi dengan kapasitas setidaknya 6.000 MW hingga 2020.

“Indonesia mempunyai kemampuan hingga 27 giga watt energi dari panas bumi,” ujarnya.

Hanya saja, lanjut dia, walaupun pemerintah telah mengeluarkan berbagai regulasi soal panas bumi, tetapi masih diperlukan persyaratan wajib bagi perusahaan listrik untuk membeli tenaga panas bumi pada tarif feed-in tetap. (wiw)

ADB and JBIC fund Indonesia's geothermal power plant project

[ China View ]

JAKARTA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Asia Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) funded a geothermal power plant project in Indonesia, a private news portaldetikcom quoted an official as saying on Wednesday.

    The power plant would secure electricity supply to North Sulawesi province ahead of the World Ocean Conference in May 2009.

    The President Director of PT Rekayasa Industri (Rekin) Triharyo Soesilo told the news portal that ADB provided 28 million U.S. dollars while JBIC funded 36 million dollars to the project, namely PLTP Lahendong.

    "On Wednesday afternoon, the Indonesian Energy Minister inaugurated the project," he said.

    PT Rekin, Sumitomo Corp and the state-owned power company PT PLN worked on the project while PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy provided the energy.

    "The project will help the province to welcome guests world widein the 2009 World Ocean Conference event," he said.

    The World Ocean Conference, to be held from May 11 to 14 in Manado, North Sulawesi, would discuss oceans in relation to climate change.

Rich in geothermal fields? Then exploit them

[ japan times ]

By MICHAEL RICHARDSON

Special to The Japan Times

SINGAPORE — In their quest for energy security, Indonesia and the Philippines are planning to develop nuclear power to buttress a key part of their electricity generating systems. This provides the near constant, or base load, electricity needed by industries and households. However, the possibility of accidents and deadly radioactive releases from nuclear power plants — particularly those in countries like the Indonesia and the Philippines, which are peppered with active volcanoes and subject to earthquakes and tsunami — worries neighboring nations in Southeast Asia as well as Australia.

Such plants would be sited on coastlines so they can draw water from the sea for cooling purposes. The problems even Japan, with its advanced technology and management skills, has encountered with the seismic safety of its nuclear power industry during major earthquakes in recent years has heightened this anxiety.

Yet the very basis for these safety concerns in Southeast Asia points to a solution. Instead of going nuclear with its risks, Indonesia and the Philippines could expand what they are already doing: tapping the virtually limitless heat from deep underground to power their economies. The two Southeast Asian countries are the world's biggest geothermal electricity producers, after the United States.

This form of renewable energy supplies just over 23 percent of the electricity generated in the Philippines and 5 percent in Indonesia. It has reliability advantages over solar and wind power, mainly because geothermal fields do not stop producing energy at night after the sun sets, or when the wind ceases to blow or gusts too hard.

Coming from the Earth's molten core and from the decay of naturally occurring elements such as uranium and thorium, the heat energy in the uppermost 10 km of the planet's crust is vast — 50,000 times greater than the energy content of all known oil and natural gas resources. Among countries with the richest geothermal resources are those that lie atop the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a hot geologic zone that encircles the Pacific Ocean. They include the western U.S., Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Russia, Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand.

On a worldwide basis, hydropower is by far the most important renewable energy source, accounting for 19 percent of global electricity production. Wind generates just one percent of world power. While both geothermal and solar energy each provide well under one percent, they have the potential to supply much more. Indonesia is the world's third biggest producer of geothermal electricity. Yet it supplies barely 1,000 megawatts of an estimated 27,000 MW potential from its geothermal resources, one of the world's largest.

It plans to develop new capacity of nearly 7,000 MW over the next decade, equivalent to 10 nuclear power plants and equal to nearly 30 percent of its current electricity-generating capacity from all sources. The Philippines, the No. 2 producer after the U.S., aims to increase its installed geothermal capacity by 2013 by over 60 percent, to just over 3,100 MW.

But first impediments in both countries to expanded geothermal investment must be removed. A presidential decree in Indonesia earlier this month (October) offered tax incentives for expanded production from existing fields and development of new resources. However, political bickering in the Philippines has blocked passage of a renewable energy bill to provide greater incentives and clarity.

In both countries, official red tape, difficulty in gaining access to public and private land for development projects, and disputes over the price offered for geothermal electricity going into state-owned power supply networks has slowed progress.

Now the global squeeze on credit and the recent fall in prices of competing fossil fuel energy sources like coal, oil and natural gas, are putting additional barriers in way of geothermal expansion.

Still, the potential for growth remains promising. According to a recent survey by the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, geothermal energy is being tapped in 24 countries, five of which used it to produce 15 per cent or more of their total electricity.

In the first half of this year, worldwide-installed geothermal power capacity passed 10,000 MW and now produces enough electricity to meet the needs of 60 million people, roughly the population of Britain. By 2010, capacity could increase to 13,500 MW in 46 countries.

Most geothermal plants in operation around the world tap into underground pockets of high-temperature water or steam to drive steam turbines. These ventures need high capital investment for exploration, drilling and plant and pipeline construction, compared to coal or gas-fired electricity plants. However, operation and maintenance costs are relatively low.

Now, however, new geothermal technologies enable electricity to be generated at much lower temperatures. They use liquids with lower boiling points than water in heat exchange systems, opening a vast new frontier for geothermal power.

Michael Richardson, a former Asia editor of the International Herald Tribune, is an energy and security specialist at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore.

Indonesia Power Report Q3 2008

[ pr-inside ]

The new Indonesia Power Report from BMI forecasts that the country will account for 2.08% of Asia Pacific regional power generation by 2012, with an increasing generation shortfall that provides a growing import requirement. BMI’s Asia Pacific power generation estimate for 2007 is 6,865 terawatt hours (twh), representing an increase of 9.6% over the previous year. We are forecasting an increase in regional generation to 9,370twh by 2012, representing a rise of 36.5%. Asia Pacific thermal power generation in 2007 is estimated by BMI at 5,431twh, accounting for 79.1% of the total electricity supplied in the region.

Our forecast for 2012 is 7,104twh, implying 46.6% growth that reduces the market share of thermal generation to 75.8% – thanks partly to environmental concerns that should be promoting renewables, hydro-electricity and nuclear generation. Indonesia’s thermal generation in 2007 was 135twh, or 2.49% of the regional total. By 2012, the country is expected to account for 2.52% of thermal generation. For Indonesia, oil is the dominant fuel, accounting for 47.5% of 2007 primary energy demand (PED), followed by gas at 26.5%, coal at 24.3% and hydro with a 1.7% share of PED. Regional energy demand is forecast to reach 4,830mn tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) by 2012, representing 37.3% growth over the period.

Indonesia’s 2007 market share of 3.10% is set to fall to 2.98% by 2012. Indonesia is moving ahead slowly with controversial plans to build its first nuclear power plant, which could be operational by 2017. Indonesia is now ranked sixth, just behind Malaysia in BMI’s updated Power Business Environment rating, reflecting to its low level of energy import dependence and healthy power consumption growth prospects. Several country risk factors offset some of the industry strength, and the country may struggle to keep Philippines and Thailand at bay over the longer term. BMI is now forecasting Indonesian real GDP growth averaging 5.83% per annum between 2007 and 2012, with a 2008 forecast of 6.10%. Population is expected to expand from 231.6mn to 245.3mn over the period, with GDP per capita and electricity consumption per capita both forecast to increase significantly.

The country’s power consumption is expected to increase from 173twh in 2007 to 282twh by the end of the forecast period, leaving a shortfall in generation rising from an estimated 26twh in 2007 to 87twh in 2012, assuming 7.1% annual growth in generating capacity. Between 2007 and 2018, we are forecasting an increase in Indonesian electricity generation of 90.7%, which is among the highest for the Asia Pacific region. This equates to 35.1% in the 2013-2018 period, up from 32.6% in 2007-12. PED growth is set to fall from 25.8% in 2007-12 to 24.0%, representing 63.8% for the entire forecast period. An increase of 168% in hydro-power use during 2007-18 is a key element of generation growth. Thermal power generation is forecast to rise by 88% between 2007 and 2018. More details of the long-term BMI power forecasts can be found in the appendix of this report.

Author:
Mike King

Kyushu Elec takes Indonesia geothermal project stake

[Reuters]

TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Kyushu Electric Power Co Inc (9508.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it had acquired a 25 percent stake in a geothermal power project in Indonesia from Indonesian energy explorer PT Medco Energi International Tbk (MEDC.JK: Quote, Profile, Research) for an undisclosed sum.

Last year, Indonesian state electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) awarded a contract to a consortium of Medco, Ormat Technologies (ORA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Itochu Corp. (8001.T: Quote, Profile, Research) to build a 330-megawatt geothermal power plant in Sarulla in North Sumatra. Medco chief executive officer Hilmi Panigoro said in May that it wanted Kyushu to join the project because of its experience in the field.

Panigoro said then that Medco had a 62.25 percent stake in the Sarulla project, Itochu 25 percent and Ormat 12.75 percent. Indonesia, the Asia-Pacific region's only OPEC member, is tapping alternative sources of energy to meet rising power demand and cut consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.