Private companies to build 3 hydro power plants

Rangga D. Fadillah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/20/2012

State power company PT PLN has decided that three hydro power plants in Batang Toru in North Sumatera, Kerinci, in Jambi and Karama in West Sulawesi will be built under the public-private partnership.

Nur Pamuji: PLN president director.
(Tribunnews.com) 

“Considering that the projects require huge investments, the projects will be given to private developers. The financing may come from foreign financial institutions thus we suggest that the government provide guarantee through PT Penjaminan Infrastruktur Indonesia [PII],” said PLN president director Nur Pamudji.

The Karama power plant will be built by PT Sulbar Group and China Gezhoumba Group. The plant will have a total capacity of 450 megawatts (MW) and requires a total investment of US$$1.2 billion.

The contract for the Kerinci plant has been awarded to PT Kerinci Hydro Energy. The investment for the 450 MW plant is forecast to hit $510 million.

In Batang Boru, Operational Cooperation (KSO) Dharma Hydro will build the 500 MW power plant. The total investment is expected to reach $1.2 billion.

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Indonesia Bids to Host Future Clean Technology Center

Jakarta Globe, March 20, 2012

The surge in wind energy could save 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide emissions each year 

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Paris. Plans for a global center to help transfer clean technology to poorer countries have drawn nine bids, including from Indonesia’s National Council on Climate Change, the UN climate forum said on Monday. 

Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) backed the proposal at a meeting in Durban, South Africa last December. 

Bidders to host the center include a 13-member consortium led by the Kenya-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and whose ranks include energy research institutes in India, the United States and Netherlands, the UNFCCC said in a press release. 

Others are the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), a Washington-based international funder of environmental programmes; Costa Rica’s Institute of Technology; and Indonesia’s National Council on Climate Change. 

There is also a bid by the Research Institute of Petrolum Industry (RIPI) in Tehran, which carries out research for Iran’s oil and gas sector. 

Fossil fuels are the biggest contributor to global warming, which scientists say is inflicting worrying changes to the climate system. 

The nine applicants will be whittled down to a shortlist of five next month. 

In May, a UNFCCC expert panel will propose the winner. Final approval rests with the UNFCCC’s annual ministerial-level meeting, taking place in Qatar from November 26 - December 7. 

Agence France-Presse

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Govt to build solar cell company in West Java

Antara News, Mon, March 19 2012 

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Ministry of State Owned Enterprises plans to build a solar cell company in Karawang, West Java, in response to the growing suggestions that Indonesia should use more renewable energy and reduce its dependency on fossil fuel, a minister said.

Dahlan Iskan. (ANTARA
/Rosa Panggabean) 

"The company will produce a capacity of 60 megawatts per year, and the government has planned to invest Rp500 billion. The company is expected to start operations by November 2013," Minister of State Owned Enterprises Dahlan Iskan said here on Monday.

Earlier, Minister of Research and Technology Gusti Muhammad Hatta had said his ministry was continuously studying the pattern of geothermal energy utilization in Indonesia as part of the efforts to ready existing renewable energy sources for tapping by 2025.

"My ministry is continuously studying the utilization patterns since it has been planned that in 2025 new renewable energy should be ready in large amounts," he said.

Gusti added that the National Energy Board (DEN) had predicted that the availability of petroleum would deplete by 2020 so the preparation of renewable energy on a large scale should be started early.

Oil may still be available off the coast but it is deep inside the ocean and will require the use of advance technology and high costs to obtain.

Therefore, the renewable energy derived from various sources such as ocean currents, wind and plants (bio-ethanol) must be reviewed for use, the minister explained.

"In fact, in the near future we will be working on geothermal energy because we (Indonesia, Red) has 44 percent of the world`s geothermal potential," he noted.

The DEN version guided by the blue print of National Energy Management 2004 mentions that Indonesia`s energy source of fossil fuel, which is oil, will be exhausted within 18 years, gas in 61 years, and coal in 147 years.

Currently Indonesia needs as much as 1.5 percent of the world`s oil to reach 10.5 billion tons.

Meanwhile, Indonesia exports as much as 1.5 percent, which means that Indonesia`s ability to produce oil takes care of 3 percent of the total oil consumption in the world.

Earlier, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik said that renewable energy in Indonesia has not been fully utilized, especially the abundant solar energy.

"Solar energy is currently used only for drying coffee and during the tourist season, even though it can be utilized optimally," he said.

Jero noted that energy sources of oil will be exhausted but according to the data from the National Energy Board, renewable energy is currently only 5 percent of the total energy used.

So the government is working towards making sure that renewable energy reaches a minimum of 25 percent of the total energy used in 2025.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, there are currently around 28 sources of geothermal energy with a potential of about 7,000 megawatts that have been licensed for exploration by the Forestry Ministry.

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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A New Home for Rp 70m? It Might Be Within Reach for Indonesia's Poor

Jakarta Globe, Anita Rachman, March 19, 2012

Model units of the prefab homes that the Ministry of Public Housing
 envisions as an affordable plan to homeownership. Accounting for all
the costs  associated with them, setting up the houses would cost at least
Rp 70 million, with mortgage plans available. (JG Photo/ Afriadi Hikmal)  

       

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Shortly after he was appointed public housing minister in October, Djan Faridz was given a daunting challenge: build Rp 25 million ($2,750) houses for low-ranking civil servants on land provided by the local government.

“I was shocked,” he told the Jakarta Globe in a recent interview. “How can I build a house with only Rp 25 million? And I wanted it to have at least a 36-square-meter [floor area].”

But he soon found an answer in Palembang, South Sumatra. In a trip to the province, he met representatives of Grand Wijaya Persada, a construction company that has been building houses for even less than that amount.

A model cheap house

Inside the ministry compound in South Jakarta, a fully furnished, two-bedroom 45-square-meter model unit now stands.

The basic structure of the prefab house costs Rp 35 million, sans flooring, ceiling and paint, which runs an additional Rp 5 million.

Beside it, a model unit of the Rp 25 million, 36-square-meter version is being built. Visible for now is the steel mold where concrete would be poured into to create the basic structure. But it won’t remain like that for long, because the house can be finished in as little as seven days.

Anyone interested in looking at the model units is welcome at the ministry. Both units have a defined two-bedroom floor plan according to the prefab mold patented by Umar Sumadi, the production head at Grand Wijaya. A single mold can be used to construct as many as 200 houses.

The ministry has already signed a memorandum of understanding with several other ministries committing to help provide civil servants with these cheap houses.

Djan said the project would be done in 60 districts and municipalities across the country, starting off with East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and North Maluku.

The ministry is aiming to build around 7,900 cheap houses in NTT and 2,000 in North Maluku this year, among others.

Rp 70 million dream

The minister, however, is keen on finding a way to make the same cheap houses available to all Indonesians.

“Housing is a serious matter, after food and clothing. But many cannot afford it because it’s remarkably expensive,” Djan said.

According to his ministry’s data, as many as 4.8 million Indonesians today live in dilapidated houses, and more than 11 million people do not have their own homes. And with real estate prices expected to keep rising, chances are these figures will only climb higher.

That’s why the minister’s goal is to give Indonesians a chance to own a home for an affordable Rp 70 million.

Here’s how he sees it: in certain parts of Jakarta’s satellite cities, say Depok, people can still get a 60-square-meter plot of land for less than Rp 20 million.

If the Rp 25 million, 36-square-meter prefab model is built on that land, then for as little as Rp 70 million — including flooring, ceiling, paint, electricity and water installations and other fixtures — an Indonesian family can have a home it can call its own.

“Of course you can also get it elsewhere, anywhere you want,” the minister said. “So if you are outside Java, you can get a house for even less than Rp 70 million.”

Bringing it to the people

The idea is that the ministry will work with developers who can build subdivisions full of these prefab units.

For a housing project to be economically feasible, at least 200 units must be constructed to maximize the use of the mold. Grand Wijaya would earn a 5 percent licensing fee for each socialized housing project.

Indonesians can then buy the houses from these developers at prices determined together with the ministry. Of course, certain conditions, such as that the potential buyer does not own a house yet, have to be met.

The ministry will then help get bank housing loans. For a Rp 70 million house, Djan said the current computation would see a buyer pay Rp 575,000 a month for 15 years.

But it might still be a while before these become a reality, as the ministry hasn’t begun discussions with developers yet.

Real Estate Indonesia chair Setyo Maharso said delivering low-cost homes was not a problem, and the ministry’s plan could be executed in the same way as previous programs.

Doing it in Jakarta, though, would not be easy, he said.

“It’s even quite difficult to build it in Depok. Bogor or Bekasi are still possible, but not here in Jakarta,” he said.

Although he completely supports the policy, he said prefab units were not always ideal.

“Low-income families usually buy a small house, but when they have money, they will build more rooms. But prefab houses are not really flexible for modifications,” he said.

Priyo Suprobo, a structural engineer with the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS), agreed. He said modifying a prefab structure would be difficult, and that the lack of flexibility was a major weakness.

Another is that people could not embed electrical wiring into the walls.

But Priyo still believes this kind of model can help low-income families solve their housing problems, “especially if the ministry provides a subsidy,” he said.

Will people buy?

Ridwan, a security guard in an office building in Kuningan, currently rents a house in Kedoya in Kebun Jeruk, West Jakarta, with his wife and child for Rp 350,000.

Hearing about the Rp 70 million house made him happy and hopeful. “I think it’s affordable, and 36 square meters looks decent enough,” he said.

On the other hand, Afrizal, a single 24-year-old noddle seller in Lenteng Agung, felt the Rp 575,000 amortization per month was still out of reach.

“It’s already hard to make ends meet,” he said.

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Govt Pairs With F Cubed for Safe Drinking Water Project

Jakarta Globe, March 17, 2012

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The Indonesian government has announced it will partner with sustainable water technology firm F Cubed to set up solar-powered desalination kits across the country.

Indroyono Soesilo, secretary at the office of the coordinating minister for people’s welfare, said on Thursday that there was an urgent need to provide a sustainable and reliable source of clean water in villages and isolated communities nationwide.

The decision to partner with F Cubed, he said, was crucial in this respect. “We need to immediately find a solution to providing clean water in areas that experience chronic water shortages,” he said.

He said the Australian company would work with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) to set up its Carocell solar-powered desalination kits throughout the country.

Peter Johnstone, the F Cubed founder and chief executive, said the desalination technology that his company had pioneered was proven to produce high-quality drinking water.

“Our technology can turn water from any source, be it seawater, groundwater, polluted or even contaminated water, into clean, potable water,” he said. “And because it runs on solar power, the water can be produced at a very low cost.”

Among the other benefits of the Carocell system that the company touts are that it “emits no greenhouse gas emissions, uses no chemicals, no costly membranes, no filters, no electronics and no ongoing power source is required other than solar radiation.”

The system is based on a single or a series of low-cost solar panels that can be mounted on the roof of a building or on the ground. The water goes into a feeder pipe running along the top of the panel, then is allowed to run down in evenly dispersed streams to the bottom of the panel.

As it flows down, it gets heated by the solar panel and vaporizes, condensing on the inside of the panel enclosure and eventually dripping out through a clean water outlet pipe.

F Cubed claims the distillation process, high temperatures and exposure to ultraviolet light kill any bacteria and germs in the water. The company also says its panels have double the solar efficiency of similar water purification systems.

The smaller of its two types of solar panels, with a surface area of three square meters, can produce up to 20 liters of clean water a day, while the larger panel, at six square meters, can produce double that amount.

Each panel converts 30 to 40 percent of the feed water into clean water.

The whole cycle can be carried out six times, after which the remaining fluid, with a high salt concentration, is crystallized to produce salt, as part of the F Cubed’s “zero liquid discharge” technology.

Johnstone said the Carocell panels were already in use in 26 countries, including Malaysia, India and Bangladesh.

“We are currently assessing building a factory in Indonesia with investment of around $10 million,” he said. “We want to participate in efforts to improve people’s welfare by providing clean water and creating jobs.”

F Cubed says that because the system runs entirely on solar power, there are no mechanical parts and no electronics, making it ideal for installation in remote, rural areas, as well as for use in disaster relief situations.

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Sharp ready to start $300m solar power project in Bali

The Jakarta Post, Sat, 03/10/2012

Japanese multinational electronics giant Sharp Corporation will soon conduct a feasibility study on a US$300 million solar energy power plant in Bali with 100 megawatt (MW) capacity, an Indonesian government official says.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik previously said the new plant will generate cheaper electricity for the people because the price could almost half the current price using fuel energy, or at about 23 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). Following a depreciation period, the price could further dip to 3 to 5 cents per kWh.

Kardaya Warnika, the ministry’s director general of renewable energy and energy conservation, said Friday the memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been signed with Sharp on March 2 and the feasibility study had begin the following day in Bali.

“Bali was chosen because the project targets tourism areas so that they could be supplied by electricity and renewable energy,” Kardaya said as quoted from his office’s website, adding that the feasibility study aims at finding out the intensity of heat, duration of sunlight, and market potential in the “Island of Gods”.

While the study is ongoing, Sharp will develop a smaller capacity solar power plant with capacity of 1 to 2 MW, according to him. If successful, Kardaya added, the project could be expanded to other areas including Jakarta.

Indonesia currently relies on oil, gas and coal as sources for energy, while the use of renewable energy is low. Neighboring countries have diversified to biomass geothermal and extensive use of hydro-electric technology.

The government has pushed efforts to find new and renewable energy sources as prices of oil and coal are on the rise, to provide electricity for the country where infrastructure bottlenecks remain a major issue.

State electric utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), which acts as the offtaker of Sharp’s project, has embarked on a program to develop solar power plants in 100 islands to provide access to electricity in remote areas. Tropical Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands, many of which have tenuous electricity supply, especially in remote areas.

“But [Sharp’s] project is different with that of PLN. PLN aims at reaching out regions that have not had access to electricity, but Sharp’s project does not target remote areas,” Kardaya said.

The selling price to PLN has not yet been set, and the government is yet to decide on the pricing mechanism—flat rate or gradually decreasing prices, he added.

Every 1 MW solar power plant capacity requires investment of between $2.5 and $3 million and land bank of two hectares, according to Kardaya, meaning that Sharp’s 100 MW project in Bali will need up to $300 million investment and 200 hectares land.

“If they [investors/Sharp] have built [a plant] in Indonesia, the components must come from their Indonesia-based factory,” he added.

— JP/Esther Samboh

After Success of ‘A Separation,’ Iran to Host Cultural Festival

Jakarta Globe, Ade Mardiyati, March 02, 2012

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Indonesia is set to host
 Cultural Week from March 7 to 13 in Jakarta. It will feature film screenings,
 workshops on Iranian arts, photography exhibitions and traditional music
performances. (Agency Photo)

               

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Indonesia is set to host Cultural Week from March 7 to 13 in Jakarta. It will feature film screenings, workshops on Iranian arts, photography exhibitions and traditional music performances.

As part of the festivities, the embassy will also host a film festival at Pusat Perfilman Usmar Ismail in Kuningan, South Jakarta, from March 9 to 12. There will be discussions with Iranian directors and actors.

“Through this Cultural Week event, we are trying to introduce the culture and people of the Republic of Iran to the Indonesian people,” said Mahmoud Farazandeh, the Iranian ambassador, during a recent news conference at his residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

“There are plenty of Indonesian people I met who have expressed interest in Iranian films, so we decided to run this event.”

Among the films to be screened are “A Span of Heaven,” “The Third Day,” “The Sun Shines on All Equally” and “Eighth Sky.”

Iranian cinema has recently been thrust onto the international stage with the success of “A Separation,” which won Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, among some 45 film award wins for the drama.

While most modern movies portray violence, romance and unique relationships, the message of Iranian films, according to Farazandeh, is to show the world the problems that exist in the country. Some of these problems are unique to Iran, while some problems, such as “A Separation’s” portrayal of a couple struggling to care for their children and an ailing parent, are universal to all cultures.

“We don’t present merely entertainment. There is always a message we want to deliver,” he said. “It is how to say something without using violence or sexual scenes.”

The film industry, Farazandeh said, was one way to voice revolution in Iran.

“We don’t believe that violence can help reach revolution. Instead, it is the values of humanity that can,” he said. “Our revolution is a cultural one.” 

Cultural Week of the Islamic Republic of Iran

March 7-13, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Museum Nasional, Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat No. 12, Central Jakarta

Freeport donates Rp 58b to human rights foundation

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Fri, 03/02/2012

American mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia (PT FI) has donated Rp 58 billion (US$6.38 million) to the Timika-based Human Rights and Anti-Violence Foundation (Yahamak) to fund its programs.

Yosepha Alomang
(Kompas.com)

 “The donation will be disbursed in two stages: Rp 27 billion in 2012 and Rp 31 billion in 2013, as stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU),” PT FI vice president for social affairs, Demianus Dimara, said after the MoU signing in Jayapura, Papua, on Friday.

Yahamak’s founder, Yosepha Alomang, said the funds would be allocated for education, health and economic programs, as well as to enhance the capacity of the foundation’s management.

 Yahamak was established in 1999 by Yosepha, a human rights defender who received the Yap Thian Hien award in the same year, and the Goldman Prize in 2001.

 Yosepha said that Yahamak was born out of the struggles of local women living in the company’s working area.

 Responding to the numerous shooting incidents, which have recently occurred in the province, Yahamak vice director Arnold Romsumbre demanded the President take the matter seriously and to speedily arrest the perpetrators.

 “When someone is stabbed and killed in an attack with an arrow in Timika, we can easily identify the perpetrator’s clan from the arrow’s characteristics. But we can hardly identify it from a bullet,” Arnold said. (swd)