Here Comes the Sun

(3/3/2013)

A solar-energy generation project worth Rp. 26 billion (US$2.6 million) was inaugurated in Kubu, Karangasem, Bali on Monday, February 25, 2013

The Solar Energy Generation Project (PLTS)  able to produce substantial power for Bali’s power grid was officiated over by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik, Bali’s governor Made Mangku Pastika, the director general of New Energy Sources and Power Conservation (EBTKE), the director general of electrification, the CEO of the State Power Board (PT PLN) and the regent of Karangasem.

The Karangasem Solar Energy project is the first of its kind in Bali. Rated at 1 Mega-watt, the center is expected to produce 2.88 million-kilowatts over a project lifetime of 20 years. The PLTS in Karangasem is also calculated to reduce the carbon footprint of producing such a quantity of power by 2.566 tons of CO2.

Quoted by Beritabali.com, Jero Wacik said at the inauguration ceremony: “This represents the first PLTS and, for the moment, the largest in Indonesia. Next year we will build another PLTS with even more electrical capacity.”

Wacik added that the solar energy generation center in Karangasem covers a land area of 1.7 hectares and is expected to become a model program for the use of solar energy as a source of electrical power in Indonesia in the future. Adding, “There is no limit to the amount of solar energy available for our use.”