Solar energy developed for urban houses

JAKARTA (JP): The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology is expanding its solar energy development plan, currently restricted to rural areas, to include urban housing.

To begin with, Bumi Serpong Daya, an expanding exclusive satellite city on the outskirts of Jakarta, has agreed to be the first to use solar power.

The huge housing complex in Tangerang has agreed to build a model house with solar cell panels in place of regular roof tiles.

Besides the current trial project on rural housing in some areas, commercial solar-powered generators are available in Indonesia, albeit in a limited way because of their relatively high costs. At present, they are chiefly installed on bungalows which wealthy urban people own in resort areas and use only on weekends.

Agus Salim Dasuki, the agency's director of energy technology, said solar energy here is being developed to complement rather than replace current energy sources.

"We must be prepared in case of an electricity crisis," Agus said.

He recalled the time only a few years ago when many cities in Indonesia, including Jakarta, had power blackouts because PLN, the state-owned electricity monopoly, could not generate enough electricity to meet the rapidly growing demand.

PLN even restricted the maximum electricity supply a household was entitled to 2,200 watts then, he said. "That should never have to happen again."

"We also want to introduce an environmentally friendly, less wasteful source of energy," Agus said of the project for solar energy.

Solar power, which is light converted into electrical energy through an array of solar cells, was one of the topics discussed at the World Energy Congress in Tokyo last week.

An editorial in The Economist magazine before the congress argued that Asian governments, including Indonesia, should not be tempted into building nuclear plants, and should encourage the development of cheaper, safer alternatives such as solar and wind power. Except for France, the editorial stressed that western governments now consider nuclear power too expensive.

Agus said that solar power cannot yet be considered a better alternative for energy on a large scale, as it is still costly at US$8 to $10 per watt.

The ideal cost would be $1.50, he said.

"Our priority is still to develop solar power as a complement to other resources, mainly in rural areas which will still be without access to electricity in the next five to 10 years," he said.

More than 60 percent of Indonesian households, mostly outside Java, still have no access to electricity. They represent about 23 million of Indonesia's 195 million population.

A project to develop 50 megawatts of solar energy by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology aims at helping at least one million homes, said Agus.

Each home will have 50 watts, enough for "basic needs," a television and a few lights.

Up to now, only 30,000 homes in 15 provinces have solar energy. These families, said Agus, pay a monthly rent of Rp 7,500 ($3.29) for 10 years, which includes Rp 500 in maintenance fees managed by the local village cooperative. After 10 years the solar panels will be owned by the families, who only need to change the cells and other components.

Agus admitted that the project, assisted by Presidential funds, is limited to selected villages where the residents are considered able to pay the rent.

Agus said hopefully the costs will decrease, partially with technological advances. French scientists say they have found solar cell panels which can last for 40 years, instead of the current ones which last for 20 years, he said.

Another scientist, Achyar Umi at the Center of Applied Physics at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Serpong, West Java, said scientists there are also developing local components of solar cells, which are still imported.

Solar energy, developed more intensively here since the 1980s, is now used for various functions including home use, medicine storage and water supply. (anr)