Indonesia: Bali's PV potential shines in ADB mapping study

Indonesia: Bali's PV potential shines in ADB mapping study

The island of Bali could produce as much as 115,371.9 GWh of electricity per
year - far above its projected requirement of just 4,992.7 GWh per year by
2019 - and solar offers the greatest potential for future development,
according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

"International financing institutions' interest in the energy sector is no
longer limited to assisting the countries to expand their centralized
generation facilities, but also to support distributed renewable energy
development," write Bhuwneshwar Prasad Sah and Priyantha Wijayatunga in an
ADB report that advocates the use of decision support systems, backed by
geographic information systems (GIS), to plan solar, wind, biomass,
hydropower and geothermal projects.

The researchers used Bali as a test case for a GIS-based decision support
system they had developed. The team - which included officials from
Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the World Resources
Institute and the University of Tokyo - used QGIS, an open-source GIS
software platform, in addition to a geographic resources analysis support
system. They concluded that the Indonesian island offers "sufficient"
potential to deploy renewables, based on the spatial distribution of its
renewable resources, which were mapped with a GIS platform.

Renewables generation potential ranges widely across the island from 300 GWh
per year to 12,000 GWh per year. In the island's main city, Denpasar, there
is "huge potential" to install more solar on rooftops, the ADB said,
pointing to warehouses, factories, schools, public buildings and other
structures with concrete rooftops.

The researchers also said that Buleleng - a regency that spans most of
Bali's northern coastline - as well as Klungklung district in the island's
southeastern corner, offer the greatest technical potential for solar
development. They have estimated that these in two regions alone - where
thousands of people lack reliable access to electricity - solar panels could
generate 59,000 GWh per year.

Annual solar irradiance in Bali ranges from 1,490 kWh to 1,776 kWh per
square meter, the ADB found, noting that in Europe, yearly solar radiation
levels can be as low as 900 kWh per square meter for a location to be
considered suitable for solar development. "(This) is a clear indication
that Bali has the potential for commercially viable solar energy projects,"
the ADB researchers said.

"However, without proper policy and market intervention, it would be
difficult to harness this potential," the researchers said. They believe
that a geo-enabled decision support system can be used to effectively choose
the right mix of renewable-energy technologies in a defined region. Such
technologies can be used to assess spatial distribution at the village level
to plan small projects such as rooftop solar arrays and PV-powered minigrids
and microgrids.

The report concluded that solar offers the greatest potential to meet Bali's
energy needs, followed by biomass. "However, it is important to recognize
that large storage is needed if all the demand is met by solar energy," the
researchers said. "Although solar energy exhibits (the) best potential,
policymakers can easily arrive at a proper mix of solar and biomass."

Despite its potential, solar development in Bali and the rest of Indonesia
is still in its early stages. The ADB report notes that the country lags far
behind its neighbours in deploying clean energy. Its cumulative installed
solar capacity spiked to roughly 80 MW at the end of 2016, from just 9 MW a
year earlier, according to the International Renewable Energy Association
(IRENA). By contrast, cumulative installed PV capacity had reached roughly
765 MW in the Philippines by the end of last December. Renewables -
including solar, wind, biomass, hydropower and geothermal sources -
collectively accounted for just 11.9% of Indonesia's total energy mix in
2015, the ADB researchers said.

Indonesia aims to install 6.5 GW of solar and 45 GW of renewables by 2025.
In August 2016, the government introduced a first-come, first-served feed-in
tariff for qualified PV developers. However, it has followed this plan with
a series of additional regulations and the government's precise plans for
solar remain unclear. Several developers have responded to the lack of
policy clarity by directly negotiating power purchase agreements with state
utility PT PLN (Persero). In March, six local developers signed agreements
with PLN to build 45 MW of solar projects throughout the Southeast Asian
nation. And earlier this month, Singapore-based developer Equis Energy
signed deals with PLN to build 42 MW of solar capacity in the country.

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Link to Original Article:
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/08/21/balis-pv-potential-shines-in-adb-mapp
ing-study/

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com