Tag: NGO

  • Green Technology Advancements for Indonesia Post-2024 Elections

    Green Technology Advancements for Indonesia Post-2024 Elections

    The Indonesian energy sector is ready for a technological revolution following the 2024 elections. The massive potential for renewable energy and green technology advancements has been around for a long time, waiting for the right moment to take off. The energy sector is a big business in the global market, the reason why the green energy initiator needs to continue its progression despite un favoured by global energy players that capitalised on massive centralized production like coal, oil and gas.

    This transition is centred around the adoption of green technologies to support the country’s sustainable growing energy needs. This article explores the key value of technological advancements expected to shape Indonesia’s energy landscape. Whoever wins the election, will realize this potential is precious to be missed.

    Solar, Wind Potential and Geothermal Exploration

    Indonesia is expected to make significant strides in solar technology. Innovations in photovoltaic cells, such as bifacial solar panels and floating solar farms, are likely to be adopted, especially in regions with high solar irradiance. These advancements will increase the efficiency and feasibility of solar energy projects.

    Wind energy, particularly offshore wind farms, is set to receive a technological boost. Areas like the west coast of Sumatera, the south region of Java and the coast of the Islands a potential areas to explore. This bold move will stimulate the advancement in turbine design, higher capacity generators, and floating wind technologies will enable Indonesia to harness wind resources more effectively, especially in coastal areas.

    Indonesia’s position on the Pacific Ring of Fire also presents a unique opportunity for geothermal energy. Technological advancements in geothermal drilling and exploration are expected to unlock new geothermal fields, increasing the country’s geothermal capacity.

    These potentials also need to be supported with good research policy and connected with academic ecosystems, universities and educational institutions. The introduction and familiarization of green energy and technology need to be started earlier at every level of compulsory education.

    Electric Vehicle, Smart Grid Integration and Energy Storage Solutions

    With the global shift towards electric vehicles (EVs), Indonesia is likely to focus on EV infrastructure. The progress of battery industries is an early start towards this progress. This includes the development of fast-charging stations and battery swap technologies, which will not only reduce carbon emissions but also create a new electricity demand.

    The integration of renewable energy sources will necessitate the development of smart grid technologies. Advanced metering infrastructure, smart grid automation, and energy management systems will play crucial roles in efficiently managing energy distribution and addressing the intermittency of renewable sources.

    Advancements in energy storage technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries, and pumped hydro storage, are critical for stabilizing the grid. These technologies will help in balancing supply and demand, ensuring a constant energy supply despite the variable nature of renewable sources. Further research on fuel Cell and Hydrogen technology will be a significant key value to these advanced processes.

    Waste-to-Energy Technologies and Carbon Capture

    Indonesia is expected to explore waste-to-energy technologies as part of its green technology initiative. Innovations in this sector can transform urban waste management, reducing landfill use and generating energy from municipal waste. Conventional waste management needs to be improved before the waste becomes a huge problem in urban society in many cities in Indonesia. Many newly developed cities struggle to process this waste. The hoarding just becomes a bigger and bigger issue each day without a significant leap in how to deplete it.

    The increasing pollution also become a new challenge in dense city populations such as Jakarta. The nearby location of heavy industries and fossil energy plantations is no longer suitable for regional development. Even though it is likely impossible to move out of these industries to other locations, carbon capture technology needs to be introduced immediately to assist this issue. These technological advancements will help the urban development growth of Jakarta’s megacity which now has more than 10 million populations.

    Integration of waste-to-energy technology is also demanded to decrease water and soil pollution due to the huge amount of waste restrained for long periods. The biogas generated by the waste chemical processes can be managed intensively in wastewater treatment plants like already implemented in Palm Oil industries. These approaches in the long run will help to decrease waste and water pollution simultaneously an alternative for energy generation.

    The technological advancements in Indonesia’s energy sector post-2024 elections represent a significant shift towards green technology. These developments, spanning solar, wind, geothermal, smart grids, energy storage, EVs, and waste-to-energy, are integral to Indonesia’s commitment to sustainable and resilient energy. While these advancements promise a greener future, their successful implementation will depend on coordinated efforts between the government, industry, and academic communities.

    References

    • Afifi, A. A., Arifin, N. A. (2024). The Future of Energy Policy in Indonesia Post-2024 Elections. The Perwakilan Post.
    • Afifi, A. A., Arifin, N., & Kiswanto, G. (2019). Industrial Maturity Development Index: An Approach from Technology-driven Resources. E PROCEEDING IC RISE UKM GSB 2019, 1.
    • Arifin, N. A. (2019). Developing carbon tolerant Ni/ScCeSZ cells via aqueous tape casting for direct biogas fed solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) (Doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham).
    • Arifin, N. A., Afifi, A. A., Samreen, A., Hafriz, R. S. R. M., & Muchtar, A. (2023). Characteristic and challenges of scandia stabilized zirconia as solid oxide fuel cell material–In depth review. Solid State Ionics, 399, 116302.
    • Bekun, F. V. (2024). Race to carbon neutrality in South Africa: What role does environmental technological innovation play?. Applied Energy, 354, 122212.
    • Pirmana, V., Alisjahbana, A. S., Yusuf, A. A., Hoekstra, R., & Tukker, A. (2023). Economic and environmental impact of electric vehicles production in Indonesia. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 1-15.
    • Punj, N., Ahmi, A., Tanwar, A., & Rahim, S. A. (2023). Mapping the field of green manufacturing: A bibliometric review of the literature and research frontiers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 138729.

  • Emerging donors in an ever-changing development’s game

    In the foreign aid seminar at the International Development Department this week, Professor Amis talked about emerging donors in international development assistance. The emergence of new donors including China, the Arab’s countries and the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) among others in recent years has changed in what I defined as ‘development’s assistance game’, which was long dominated by the established Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In an article, Ngaire Woods states that it is approximately USD 100 Billions of aids were spent by these emerging new donors, which he cites Moises Naim opined that huge amount of money spent as generous but toxic. This claim might be too generalised that these emerging donors are much the same as those established donors. What matters is how much local interests can be realised by that foreign aid.

    Woods claims that emerging donor especially China provides unconditional support of rogue states such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, however, established donor such as the United States was involved in providing aid to Afghan insurgent groups during Soviet’s invasion at the end of 1970. During the Cold War, the US was aware that Soviet’s thrive to world’s political dominance should Afghanistan fall into their control, therefore at all cost, providing financial aid to insurgent groups was the US best indirect intervention to hold Soviet progression and perceived as the simplest way to pursue political agenda. Foreign aid was used to disguise the political intervention mechanism by the US through media propaganda including publication, film production and many others.

    China in this respect was involved in Tanzania-Zambia Tazara Railway project in the late 70s as part of solidarity to support Zambia to eliminate economic dependence on Rhodesia and South Africa, both of which were ruled by white-minority governments. The project was recognised as the single largest foreign aid by China and perceived as a symbolism of Chinese support for new African sovereign and independent country. This explanation can be found in China’s Government Aid White Paper 2011.

    There is some opinion that perceives foreign aid as indirect new imperialism, to a certain extent able to put the sovereignty of receiving state into question. While some donor countries seem to be “sincere” through their unconditional aids, nevertheless we often see that these donors had hidden interests. While it seems unfair to judge the motives of the new donors, no one could able to reject that in the world full of competition, every investment should have returned. The UK finally ending its bilateral aid to India in 2015, after few years of debate over whether India should continue to receive UK’s aid whilst India Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has leapt to 7% compared to the UK itself, especially after a French company won a $15 billion Rafale military deal, snubbed UK’s offer. If the UK expects its aid to India as an investment for bilateral economic interest, definitely India is no longer need it.

    With about 300 million people in India live under the poverty line. Critics, therefore, demand that aid should continue and be channelled directly to the poor people, via established civil group and NGO. Department for International Development (DfID) should focus on strengthening the capacity of the civil group and NGO and continue to provide support directly to the targeted community. The effect of ending British aid may not bee seen immediately, but they are certain it will make a difference in the long term.

    Reference :

    Ngaire Woods.(2008). “Whose aid? Whose influence? China, emerging donors and the silent revolution in development assistance”. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2008.00765.x

    BBC.(2015).”UK ending aid to India: Where does the money go?” Link : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34398449

    BBC.(2018).”Rafale deal: Why French jets are at the centre of an Indian political storm”.Link : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45636806

    China Government.(2011).”China Foreign Aid White Paper 2011″. Link : http://english.www.gov.cn/archive/white_paper/2014/09/09/content_281474986284620.htm