Name : Muhammad Andhika Harvinanda

Student ID : 004201700041

Alternative ways to overcome coal scarcity

Indonesia is experiencing a crisis of coal supply to meet the needs of company-owned and
private power plants that supply PLN. Whereas coal should have a minimum supply of 15 days,
but now the supply is only for 8 days. As a result, the power plant uses old coal stockpiles. What
is worried about is if the stock of coal stock runs out, what should be done to maintain electricity
generation. The author has several alternative ways to overcome the depleted coal supply.

First, there is Bioenergy, bioenergy is an energy source that comes from biomass to produce heat
and electricity, one of which is biodiesel and ethanol-fueled vehicles. Biomass refers to organic
material from living plants or animals. The use of bioenergy produces the same amount of
carbon dioxide as fossil fuels, instead of removing the same amount of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere by planting a substitute garden for biomass. However, the disadvantage of using
bioenergy is that in the process it will produce large amounts of smoke, the smoke contains
carbon dioxide so this alternative is actually not enough to say fully environmentally friendly.

Second hydropower, a hydroelectric power plant produces electricity from a dam that is made to
store water in the reservoir. When released, water flows through the turbine to produce
electricity. This process is known as pumped-storage hydropower, water is recycled between the
bottom and top reservoir to control the power plant between low and peak demand. The
application of hydropower is very dependent on geographical factors. Assuming that water
sources are easily accessible and accessible, this can be used by making micro hydropower to
supply electricity to villages and small towns. However, the use of the hydropower process
requires considerable investment and also and also requires the determination of wind resources
and also an agreement to procure wind fields which requires a long process that takes up to 4
years.

The sun is a vital source of energy in each type of renewable energy today. But the most visible
use of solar energy sources is to capture solar energy directly. Solar energy technology is used to
convert energy and sunlight into heat, hot water, illumination, electricity and cooling systems for
industrial and daily needs. Photovoltaic systems (PV) use solar cells to convert sunlight into
electricity. But the disadvantage of using solar energy is that solar energy is only efficient in
certain weather and climates, and solar energy is only available at certain times.

Of the 3 alternative ways that the author explained, the author recommends that solar power
should be prioritized to help with the minimum coal produced, because the solar energy process
is quite easy to do and also the effect of the use of the solar power process is not so detrimental
to the parties next to it.