E02

GEOTHERMAL AS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY FOR DEVELOPMENT

ELECTRICITY IN INDONESIA

Abstract- Alternative energy becomes a trending topic in all over the world.
Geothermal becomes alternative energy which is being developed beside bio fuels, solar
cells, and nuclear. Fossil energy produced by the earth for a million years cant be
renewable anymore. Because of that, alternative energy which is renewable is the
solution.
Beside can be renewable and sustainable, the alternative energy is more efficient
and effective than energy from fossil fuel. Alternative energy is more eco-friendly and
helping to decrease global warming effects. Indonesia has a big opportunity to develop
geothermal energy for electricity capacity and solving the crisis energy which still
become problem for government.
Alternative is not only friendly environment, but also has sustainability energy.
There are many alternative energy by using some organic plants or plastic waste but
they are not sustainability and no big scale so that we still face some problem to develop
those energy. Because of the reason, geothermal is good choice for solving the problem.

Index term- Geothermal, alternative energy, electricity

E02

I.

Background
Geothermal is alternative energy which is profit also renewable. Geothermal

manufacturing by the earth is not be able extinct, because the heat producing by the earth is
consistent, the process of geothermal is continuous. Indonesia is the one of richest of
geothermal energy. Until now, it has been identified 265 location of geothermal source by
potent achieve about 28,122 MW or relevance with 12 billion barrel Crude Oils. By this
potential, Indonesia is effort to position geothermal as alternative energy changing fossil fuel.
Geothermal is heat energy saved in underground stones and fluid containing in there.
Geothermal has been used for electricity generator in Italy since 1913 and in New Zealand
since 1958. Usage of geothermal for non-electric sector (direct use) has been conducted in
Iceland about 70 years ago. Increased the necessity of energy and so crude oils price,
especially in 1973 and 1979, have press other countries out, include America for diminished
of their dependence of crude oil by exploiting geothermal. This current, geothermal has been
used for electricity in 24 countries, counted Indonesia. Besides geothermal fluid, also, is used
for non-electricity sector in 72 countries, such as heater room, heater water, drier for
agriculture and many others.
Geothermal is more friendly environmental than coal plant/energy. The geothermal
power plants produce water vapor emission or steam, not smoke. Because it does not burn
fuel like fossil fuel plants which release virtually no air emission. In study by GEA
(Geothermal Energy Associated) said that A coal plant updated with scrubber and other
emission control technologies emits 24 times more carbon dioxide (CO2), 10.837 times more
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), and 3.865 times more nitrous oxides (NOx) per megawatt hour than a
geothermal steam plant. For comparison the number of pollutants producing by geothermal
plant and the others can be listed by the table below;

E02

Source: Geothermal Energy Associated (GEA)

II.

Purposed Idea
Compared with United State, Philippines, and Mexico, Indonesia is in fourth grade

for geothermal production, nevertheless for direct using Indonesia doesnt utilize geothermal
significantly. According to Rugerro Bertani from International Geothermal Day Conference
and Summer School in 2009 had said that Indonesia was probably the richest country for
geothermal resources and considerable to replace the fossil fuel energy in the future.
Indonesia produces geothermal utilized as much as 6.085 GWh/year and will be
enhanced by the time. So that, we, Indonesian people, is as good as exploit the geothermal for
development the electricity which still be a problematic in Indonesia. The main types of
direct applications of geothermal energy are space heating 52% (thereof 32% using heat
pumps), bathing and swimming (including balneology) 30%, horticulture (greenhouses and
soil heating) 8%, industry 4%, and aquaculture (mainly fish farming) 4%.
As known from government data that Indonesia has geothermal potent as much as
40% of earth back up that is achieved 27,000 MW. A large amount of this if it can be develop
and utilize as good as for national electricity capacity. As far as, usage of geothermal is as
much as 1,196 MW or only 4% which comes from 7 electricity plants that are Java, Sulawesi,
and North Sumatera. Because of the reason, Indonesia should develop the geothermal
electricity plant.

E02

A big part of electricity plants need some vapor or steam to produce electricity.
Those steams are used to slue a turbine and activate generator and produce electricity.
Nowadays many electricity plant using fossil fuels to get steam by boiling a great amount of
water. Whereas the geothermal electricity plants only need steam produced from heat water
reservoir which is in some kilometers under the earth.
The geothermal electricity plant has three types based on steam producing, that are:
Dry Steam, Flash Steam, and Binary Cycle.
The geothermal electricity plant with dry steam type takes steam from under the
ground. Those steams are channeled into piping directly from underground to turbine in a
generator.
Then flash steam type is the most using in geothermal electricity. They use heat
water reservoir with temperature at 182. The super-heated water flows up to drilling well
consequence the pressure which is appeared itself.
When they move up, the pressure start to go down and other part boil up become
steams. Those steams, then, are separated from water and used to activate turbine and
generator. Water residue and steam undergoing condensation are injected back to reservoir to
reheated and become energy which is continuously.
Last, the geothermal electricity plant with binary cycle works by taking heat water at
1700 - 182. Heat from water is used to boil a certain liquid which regularly made from
organic substances with a low boiled point. This liquid is evaporated onto heat exchanger and
used to whirl turbine. Heat water in decreased temperature is injected back to underground
for re-boiling process. In this type, water and liquid is disjointed for the process.
Geothermal electricity in a small scale, generally, in under 5 MW, have potential to
develop in the village area, even can be used as distribution energy resource by using many
kinds of technologies which is be able to combine for enhance the working of electricity
distribution system.
Geothermal electricity plant is as same as steam electricity plant, but for geothermal
electricity plant, the steam is made in surface use boiler, whereas Steam electricity plant, the
steam is came from heat reservoir. When fluids in head of well in steam phase, so that the
steam can be flown up to turbine directly and then turbine will convert geothermal energy
becomes working energy which will whirl the generator until produces electric energy. If

E02

geothermal fluid comes out the head of well as mixed two phase fluids (vapor phase and
liquid phase), so that for the first, it will do separation process of fluids. It may be through
fluids into separator, so that the vapor phase will separate from its liquid phase. Vapor
fraction producing from separator is flown up to turbine then.

The Benefit of Using Geothermal Electricity Plant

In light of the inevitable impact and use of energy, specifically electricity, in the

United States, it is important to consider the environmental benefits of geothermal energy,

especially when compared to more common energy sources such as fossil fuels.
Geothermal energy is reliable. Because geothermal resources are available 24 hours
a day regardless of changing weather, geothermal energy is as reliable as any fossil fuel
facility. Geothermal is a renewable energy technology that can offer base load or intermediate
power, is dispatchable, and can achieve high capacity factors. Geothermal represents a
plentiful resource that has not been utilized to its full potential. As an additional bonus,
geothermal energy does not rely upon energy imports. Geothermal is an indigenous source of
energy.
Geothermal energy is renewable. Geothermal resources are sustainable because of
the heat from the earth and water injection, and thus will not diminish like fossil fuel
reserves. As time progresses and technology improves, our ability to extract geothermal
resources with ease will increase, not decrease.
Geothermal energy produces minimal air emissions and offsets the high air
emissions of fossil fuel-fired power plants. Emissions of nitrous oxide, hydrogen sulfide,
sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide are extremely low, especially when
compared to fossil fuel emissions. The binary geothermal plant, which currently represents
around 15 percent of all geothermal plant capacity, along with the flash/binary plant, produce
nearly zero air emissions. Lake County, California, downwind of The Geysers, has met all
federal and state ambient air quality standards for seventeen years. At The Geysers, air
quality has even improved as a result of geothermal development because hydrogen sulfide,
which would ordinarily be released naturally into the atmosphere by hot springs and
fumaroles, instead now passes through an abatement system that reduces hydrogen sulfide
emissions by 99.9 percent.

E02

Geothermal energy can offset other environmental impacts. Wastewater that would
otherwise damage surface waters is being used to recharge The Geysers geothermal system
and irrigate local land.
Geothermal energy minimally impacts land. According to the U.S. Department of
Energy, geothermal energy uses less land than other energy sources, both fossil fuel and
renewable. No transportation of geothermal resources is necessary, because the resource is
tapped directly at its source.
Geothermal energy is competitive with other energy technologies when
environmental costs are considered.
III.

Conclusion
Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source that has been utilized economically

in many parts of the world for decades. A great potential for an extensive increase in
worldwide geothermal utilization has been proven. This is a reliable energy source which
serves both direct use applications and electricity generation. Geothermal energy is
independent of weather conditions and has an inherent storage capability which makes it
especially suitable for supplying base load power in an economical way, and can thus serve
as a partner with energy sources which are only available intermittently. The renewable
energy sources can contribute significantly to the mitigation of climate change and more so
by working as partners rather than competing with each other. Presently, the geothermal
utilization sector growing most rapidly is heat pump applications. This development is
expected to continue in the future making heat pumps the major direct utilization sector. The
main reason for this is that geothermal heat pumps can be installed economically all over the
world. One of the strongest arguments for putting more emphasis on the development of geothermal resources worldwide is the limited environmental impact compared to most other
energy source.
IV.

Related Work

Bertani, Rugerro. 2009.Geothermal energy: an overview on resources and potential. Enel

Green Power: Italy.
Green, Enel. 2013. Geothermal Energy. Aleteia Communication: Italy.
www.wikipedia.com/2009/Geothermalenergy .
www.scribd.com/geothermalenergy.