In Business, News
 Viewed: 279 views

Image: Bedugul geothermal power plant in 2007. Credit: wikimapia.org

It is already well known that electricity demands in Bali exceed the current and forecast supply, and according to reports, if there is no new capacity created soon there will be an electricity crisis in the near future. That’s why Bali Governor, I Wayan Koster, has shown his intention to construct a geothermal power plant (PLTP) in Bali. The plan could be found in Article 10 of a new Governor Regulation on Clean Energy.

The Energy and Electricity Technical Head of Bali Energy and Human Resource (ESDM) Board, IB Setiawan, confirmed that the new Governor Regulation is intended to accommodate geothermal power as a source of electricity for the island. He said that the government only wanted to legalize the possibility of constructing a geothermal power plant in Bali, but, as mentioned on the Bali Regional Spatial Plan, the PLTP power plant won’t be constructed at Bedugul. (For religious, cultural, economic and environmental reasons. Ed)

Setiawan said that Koster’s commitment to avoid Bedugul as the location of the power plant has been stated to the Ministry of ESDM. “The governor has met with the Minister of ESDM, and they agreed to remove Bedugul from the list,” he said to Radar Bali. As substitutes, they are considering to construct the PLTP power plant in Banyuwedang, Buleleng, or at Batur, Bangli. Setiawan explained that the plan came from the central government after Geothermal Directorate of Ministry of ESDM carried out a feasibility study and the plan should be observed further. “There is a geothermal potential in the Batur area,” he added.

Setiawan explained that the construction depended on the feasibility study and report. If the report said that it’s impossible to utilize geothermal as an electricity source, then they won’t follow up the option to construct geothermal power plant. [Other electricity sources have been proposed such as solar power, which is becoming more feasible with new technologies. ED]