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Geothermal Significance for Indonesia’s Sustainable Future

Indonesia’s energy consumption is growing in a massive rate. Between 2000 and 2014, the
energy consumption increased by nearly 65%. Currently, fossil fuel is holding about 90% of
energy mix in the country. Today’s number will be doubled in 2030, reaching up to a value
which cannot be compassed with current reserves. This nation’s proven oil resource is only 4.5
BBOE with current consumption rate on 1.2 MMBOE per day. Supposing that the consumption
rate does not decrease, this resource will be depleted in just 12 years. This urgency pushes our
government to target renewable energy mixture reaching up to 23% in 2025. Similar pledge is
also brought up at the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) 2015, where current
Indonesian President committed in reducing carbon emission in 15 years to 23% and 41% with
international endeavor. Also, it is among global campaign in reducing severe implications
eventuated as climate change effect as well as detaching the dependency for fossil fuel as the
main energy resource. The United Nations converts this need into 2030 Sustainable
Development Agenda to transform planet Earth to be more green, efficient, and sustainable. It is
derived to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which are set to develop a resolution that is
agreed as “The Future That We Want”. Furthermore, the bigger SDG indicators achieved is a
lead to more GDP generated from the country which presents better economic output of the
nation. Answering these matters, Geothermal is one of many solutions for Indonesia to meet
those goals looking at its potential and benefits compare to other energy sources.
Geothermal is an accumulation of heat in earth’s near-surface which is stored in a reservoir
containing fluids as medium. To utilize it, we need to drill and produce reservoir fluid which
feeds turbine to generate power. Nearly 60% of the fluids produced is injected back to the
reservoir and the rest is condensed and released to the atmosphere as steam. This is a closed loop
system which can be regenerated without significant emission. By maintaining the production
and reinjection balance in addition to natural recharge of meteoric water (rainfall), geothermal
energy will continuously provide clean electricity. It also has the brightest potential in regard to
its sustainability and endures a considerably long lifetime. Both Geyser Field in US and
Larderello Field in Italy, have been producing for more than 50 years. The latter is known for its
footing in providing about 10% of world current geothermal electricity generated.
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Located in the ring of fire and surrounded with active subduction zones, Indonesia is
dominating the world’s Geothermal reserves with 29.54 GWe capacity. Classified as the high
terrain geothermal system, Geothermal field is commonly located on high altitude, mountainous
and far from industrial and commercial zone. Hence, the utilization is still low, below 5% of total
reserve. It is contrary to the fact that the heat distribution is almost evenly equal among the
provinces, with the biggest potential in West Java (20%), following in North Sumatra (9.3%),
Lampung (8.7%), South Sumatra (6.3%), Central Java (6.3%) and other provinces where 30 out
of 34 provinces in Indonesia has geothermal potential which tendency correlates with the
country’s demographic.
Geothermal Industry in Indonesia is a high investment process with long term payback
period due to fixed price on Energy Sales Contract and monopsony market structure. Pursuing
Geothermal energy in Indonesia is very challenging, thus Geothermal has major advantages that
not found in other energy. Some of those are (1) energy value, (2) commerciality factor in term
of electricity cost, (3) the greenest resources from field management and emission release factors
perspectives, (4) direct and indirect application also a (5) capital-intensive industry which expose
productive chain effect to local and regional area. Following are the more detailed explanation
on the reasoning above and the success story of some Geothermal Fields in Indonesia.
First, comparing to today’s energy term, one barrel of oil is equivalent to 1.69 MWh.
Recalling that geothermal potency in Indonesia is 29 GWe, it will contribute 254 TWh in one
year. This could be converted to 150.32 Million barrels oil production in a year or 411,834
barrels per day production rate. As comparison, the energy generated from 1 MW e powerplant is
enough to provide electricity for about 1000 houses. Projected to year 2025, Indonesia targeted
to produce 7.2 GWe geothermal energy (2.3 GWe as per 2017), which could fulfill 8.13% of the
whole nation’s electricity consumption and 31.8% of the renewable energy mixture. Second,
using Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) as an economic parameter, Geothermal yields the
lowest with US$48/MWh. This term describes the net present value of the unit-cost of electricity
over the lifetime of a generating asset. Third, looking at the carbon footprint, Geothermal
powerplant almost produce no Nitrox and Sulfur. Compared to coal powerplant which produces
CO2 at 2191 lbs/MWh and oil which produces CO2 at 1672 lbs/MWh generated, changing
energy source to geothermal could reduce CO2 footprints to only 60 lbs/MWh generated. One of
the most advanced system which use heat exchange between reservoir fluid and working fluid
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(n-pentane) for powerplant, the binary system, does not emit CO2 at all due to no direct
production of reservoir fluid. Fourth, the usage of geothermal is not only limited to power
generation. Many countries, such as Iceland, Japan, Philippines, and New Zealand, have utilized
the heat for direct application, including heat pumps, space heating, aquaculture heating,
agricultural drying, industrial uses, balneology and recreational swimming. Fifth, Geothermal
Energy Association had conducted analysis in employment of a geothermal project with on
average 4 jobs per MWe for construction and 1.7 jobs per MWe for Operation and Maintenance.

Figure 1. Projected Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) in United States by 2020 (as of 2015)
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Figure 2. Lindal Diagram of Geothermal Usage per Temperature Range

Emissions Rate (lbs./MWh)

Particulate
Energy Sources NOx SO2 CO2
Matters
Coal 4.31 10.39 2191 2.23
Coal, life cycle emissions 7.38 14.8 N/A 20.3
Oil 4 12 1672 N/A
Natural Gas 2.96 0.22 1212 0.14
EPA Listed Average of All U.S. Power
2.96 6.04 1392.5 N/A
Plants
Geothermal (flash) 0 0.35 60 0
Geothermal (binary and flash/binary) 0 0 0 0
Geothermal (Geysers steam) 0.00104 0.000215 88.8 0
Figure 3. Comparison of Emission Rate of Each Energy Sources
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Land-Use Intensity in 2030

(km2/TW-hr/yr)

2.4
Geothermal 7.5
9.7
Solar Thermal 15.3
18.6
Solar PV 36.9
44.8
Hydropower 54
72.1
Ethanol from Sugarcane 285.6
347.1
Ethanol from Cellulose 455.9
543.4
Biodiesel from Soy 894
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Figure 4. Land-Use Intensity per Energy Source in 2030

Factor Increase over

Power Source Construction Employment O&M Employment
Natural Gas
Wind 2.6 0.3 2.3
Geothermal 4 1.7 10.9
Solar Electric 7.1 0.1 2.2
Solar Thermal 5.7 0.2 2.5
Landfill Gas 3.7 2.3 14.7
Figure 5. Jobs Created by Resource Type

As one of the success story of Geothermal field in Indonesia and being the only a few dry
steam reservoirs in the world, Kamojang Field had its first successful drilling was in 1926. The
field began commercial operation in 1983 and currently, its capacity is 235 MWe with in 2015
total production of 1.59 TWh equivalent to 3.06 Million Barrel Oil Equivalent (BOE). Looking
at the local people development, the direct use of dry steam has been beneficent to the
fungiculture for Oyster mushroom drying and sterilization as well as to the orchid planting in
maintaining the suitable ambient condition since 2011. The mushroom cultivation is proven to
save 2 hours sterilization process and improve the commerciality for 320% than using
conventional drying (LPG and firewood).
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Referring to the expansion of Ulubelu Field in Lampung, this project led to the construction
of 20 km road which also penetrates remote locations. As the infrastructure was built and access
was established, the community alongside in Tanggamus District also grew and the economic
condition was developed. It also affects faster household technology adaptation, more women are
switching from firewood to oven, and more implementation of coffee drying using steam. It is
also recorded that in 2012, electrification ratio in Lampung raise to 74.91% from 70.4% from the
commissioning of two units of geothermal powerplant (110 MWe). Later in 2016, an additional
of two powerplant units in Ulubelu contributed to 25% of the total Lampung electricity. On a
bigger scale, Lampung economy has the greatest increment in Sumatra with 5.21% growth yoy.
Despite the vast impact given to local growth, the operator has only used 150 hectares out of
92,000 hectares of acquired land for operating area.
The candidate of the largest prospective Geothermal powerplant in the world, Sarulla Field,
will be generating 330 MWe from 3 powerplants. This field is located at Tapanuli Utara District
and will implement frontier technology in Indonesia. The powerplant will use Ormat’s Integrated
Geothermal Combined Cycle Power Plant (IGCC), which allows nearly 100% injection of the
produced fluid back into reservoir to maintain full closed loop system. Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIS) was performed and justify that this large-scale power generation could
displace significant amount of fossil fuel generated power in Sumatra grid and reduce an
estimated of CO2 emission equivalent to 1.3 million tons per year.
In conclusion, geothermal energy is not only capable to generate electricity but also is proven
to develop local community and economy in both socio and environmental aspects. In the near
future, several number of geothermal fields are going to be commissioned and the target of 7.2
GWe in 2025 has high feasibility to be achieved using current economy and technology
perspective. Once the target is achieved, Indonesia will be the benchmark in Geothermal
Development and attain higher percentage of SDG indicators achieved, so the overall country’s
income will increase. Looking at the comprehensive impacts, geothermal is the answer for
Indonesia’s energy, community and environmental challenges.
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