Essay Asignment

THE UTILIZATION OF VOLCANOES IN INDONESIA AS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY

FRIENDLY ELECTRICAL GENERATOR SOLUTION

Create By :

14S21001 Yobel Eliezer Mahardika 2021

14S21011 Kevin K.R.A.B Lubis 2021

14S21022 Januardi Mario Sitinjak 2021

INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI DEL

LAGUBOTI

2021
THE UTILIZATION OF VOLCANOES IN INDONESIA AS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY
FRIENDLY ELECTRICAL GENERATOR SOLUTION

Indonesia is one of the countries with the most volcanoes in the world. This is evidenced
by the existence of 139 volcanoes in Indonesia, and because of that Indonesia is also included in
the country with the third rank which has the most volcanoes in the world. With so many
volcanoes, it's a shame that Indonesia doesn't take full advantage of its potential. If we compare
with other countries. For example, El - Salvador, which incidentally is a small country, but their
able to take advantage of its volcanic potential. They use the volcano as the main electrical
power plant to do bitcoin mining. In Indonesia Geothermal Power Plant or abbreviated PLTP is a
generator with a large enough energy potential, which is 40% of the world's geothermal potential
/ 23.9 GW. this is because Indonesia is geographically traversed by the collision area of tectonic
plates and the equator / also called the ring of fire. Based on data from the geothermal
directorate, this potential has only been utilized by 8.9% or 2,130.6 MW. Of course, there is still
a lot that has not been utilized. In this regard, the government targets an increase in geothermal
utilization to 7,241.5 MW or 16.8% by 2025. 2 The focus of this essay is to take advantage of
Indonesia's potential as a country with the third most volcanoes in the world. The focus of this
essay is to take advantage of Indonesia's potential as a country with the third most volcanoes in
the world. We should be able to take advantage of geothermal energy from volcanoes as the
main source of electricity generation, due to the fact that the main power plants in Indonesia are
still powered by fossil fuels.

According to Ditjen PPI Geothermal Power Plant activities do not use fossil fuels or coal
and thus do not produce greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it can be used as an alternative
energy source to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions. So that the Government is
aggressively exploring areas with great geothermal potential and building geothermal power
plants in these areas. However, even so, until now the Government is still developing research to
ensure the safety of energy production from PLTP and continues to assess the potential losses to
the environment, especially global warming to avoid bad possibilities in the future when
Indonesia switches to PLTP to produce energy. From the above opinion we can conclude that
geothermal power plants are very environmentally friendly because they do not contain fossil
fuels at all. This makes volcanoes the main environmentally friendly electrical power generator
solution.

According to Senior Manager Corporate Ratings Division Pefindo, Martin Pandiangan,

Indonesia still consume electrical generator from fossil fuels around 61 %. This data shows that
Indonesia's dependence on fossil fuels is still high. This is not very good, because fossil fuels are
not environmentally friendly. therefore we have to start reducing the use of fossil fuel power
plants and start switching to geothermal power plants that come from volcanoes. Data in 2002
showed that the earth's surface temperature in the world rose by about (0.6 ± 0.2) oC for the last
100 years (IPCC, 2002). Sea level water throughout The world has increased by 10-25 cm or
about 1-2 mm/year during the 20th century (IPCC, 2002). For Indonesia itself, the most obvious
impact is the increase in Earth's temperature reached 0.54 oC from 1950-2000, while for Jakarta
in February 2007 the air temperature increased which is usually normal 30-33 oC to 37o C. the
data is only one of many consequences of using fossil fuels.1 Therefore, fossil fuels are very
dangerous and will cause damage slowly, it is time for Indonesia to switch to using geothermal
energy as the main source of electricity generator.

In simple terms, Geothermal Power Plant is electric power generated from the motion of
a turbine driven by geothermal energy. How to use it is to make a well whose depth reaches the
geothermal point, then the heat is channeled to the turbine location to drive the turbine. The huge
potential of geothermal energy in Indonesia makes PLTP development one of the national
priorities in the energy sector. Geothermal Power Plant, the working principle is almost the same
as the Steam Power Plant / PLTU. it's just that if the steam power plant is made using a boiler,
the steam power plant is obtained from the reservoir. The steam supplied from the production
well/reservoir enters the steam receiving header which functions as a steam collector as well as a
pressure stabilizer. So when there is excess pressure then the steam will be discharged through
the vent structure. From the steam receiving header, the steam is then flowed to the separator.
This separator serves to separate steam from solid substances / foreign objects such as heavy
particles (sodium, potassium, calcium, silica, boran, ammonia, fluorine etc.) The steam that
enters the separator will rotate due to the difference in specific gravity, so the particles that fall
down are accommodated in the dust collector, while the clean steam will come out through the
top pipe of the separator. The steam is then flowed to the demister which functions as a separator
of the moisture contained in the steam, so that only clean steam will enter the turbine. After
leaving the demister, it is certain that the steam produced is clean steam which is used to rotate a
turbine that is in axis with a generator so that geothermal power plants produce electrical energy.
The residual steam from the turbine is then condensed in the condenser. NCG (Non condensable
gas) / gas that cannot be condensed into the condenser is sucked in by the first ejector then enters
the intercondenser as a cooling medium and then discharged into the atmosphere through the
cooling tower / cooling tower. as the name implies, the cooling tower functions as a water cooler,
the water pumped from the condenser is channeled to the tub located above the cooling tower,
the tub then separates the water into fine granules and is cooled by direct contact with the
cooling air. After the cooling process occurs, the water will descend due to the gravitational
force and go to the water reservoir, which is located at the bottom. From here the water is
recirculated back into the condenser as a cooling medium. Overflow from the reservoir is used
for the purpose of the reinjection pump.3

There may be some problems that will occur when we want to implement geothermal
power plants to the fullest. Among others are The investment cost in exploration is quite high,
which is 60% of the total cost with a high risk of failure, Development costs and long return on
investment. From the exploration process to the construction of the power plant, it takes
approximately 7 years, Land acquisition and refusal from residents, The selling price / KWh is
still relatively high compared to other energies. 1 However, the government has answered these
problems, one of which is by simplifying regulations in order to facilitate investment and also
fiscal incentives.

The conclusion of this essay is to take advantage of Indonesia's condition as the country
with the third most volcanoes in the world. With this great potential, we will start to reduce fossil
fuel power plants and switch to environmentally friendly geothermal power plants. Geothermal
Power Plant is electric power generated from the motion of a turbine driven by geothermal
energy. The source of energy from geothermal energy comes from volcanoes. Emissions from
Coal Power Plants Increases airborne toxic particles mostly on the northern coast of Java and
further afield. Increases the risk of diseases such as stroke, lung cancer, heart and respiratory
disease in adults, and respiratory infections in children. Therefore, fossil fuels are very dangerous
and will cause damage slowly, it is time for Indonesia to switch to using geothermal energy as
the main source of electricity generator. There may be some problems that will occur when we
want to implement geothermal power plants to the fullest, but with government regulations, all of
these things will be resolved and fossil fuel power plants will begin to be replaced with
geothermal power plants. With all that thing I would argue clearly that Indonesia should start
taking advantage of its volcanoes by building lots of environmentally friendly geothermal power
plants.

REFERENCES

1
Priatna and Primulyana, Sofyan. 2020. MEMAHAMI GAS GUNUNG API. Jakarta : Pusat
Vulkanologi dan Migitasi Bencana Geologi Badan Geologi
2
Kementrian ESDM. 2020. RENCANA STRATEGIS DIREKTORAT JENDERAL ENERGI
BARU, TERBARUKAN DAN KONSERVASI ENERGI. Jakarta : Direktorat Jenderal Energi
Baru, Terbarukan dan Konservasi Energi Kementerian Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral

3
Ditjen PPI. Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Panas Bumi. Diakses pada ( 12 November 2021 )
melalui http://ditjenppi.menlhk.go.id/kcpi/index.php/inovasi/358-pembangkit-lisrik-tenaga-
panas-bumi