With looming energy crisis, Bali revisits geothermal as option
Pedang Bay, Bali/ Indonesia (source: flickr/ dionhinchcliffe, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
17 Jun 2019
With increasing energy demand and a looming energy crisis, Bali is revisiting the option of geothermal development as part of a clean energy push with new regulation.
Over the years, we have been reporting on proposed development of geothermal power generation facilities in Bali, Indonesia. With local opposition, any planned development though was unsuccessful.
Now with the possibility of an energy crisis in the not so far future, the provincial government is now working on new regulation that would push the utilisation of renewable energy sources, including geothermal energy and solar energy.
The Governor Regulation on Clean Energy is innovative and the first of its kind as it is made idependently by the Bali Provincial Government.
According to an official from Bali’s Energy and Manpower Agency, IB Setiawan, the holiday island must anticipate the possibility of an energy crisis, which might occur in the next two to four years.
“If there are no boost to Bali’s energy capacity, there might be an energy crisis in 2021 to 2023,” Setiawan told the Jawa Pos network.
Officials estimate that Bali will require as much as 1,500 MW of electricity generation capacity by 2021, which is more than 300 MW more than the current energy demand.
Currently, most of the electricity of Bali is supplied to the island from Java. In September 2018, the island experiened a complete blackout after an incident at a coal-fired plant supplying Bali in East Java.
Local and alternative sources of energy are seen as the much-needed solution, with geothermal energy being one such source of energy. Two potential locations are named for possible development, Banyuwedang, Buleleng, and Batur, Bangli. It would though be necessary to conduct a feasibility study for those locations.
Source: coconut.co
