TY - JOUR
T1 - Remote microgrids for energy access in Indonesia—part II
T2 - Pv microgrids and a technology outlook
AU - Simatupang, Desmon
AU - Sulaeman Islahuzzaman, Ilman
AU - Moonen, Niek
AU - Maulana, Rinaldi
AU - Baharuddin, Safitri
AU - Suryani, Amalia
AU - Popović, Jelena
AU - Leferink, Frank
N1 - Funding Information:
Due to the shortcomings in the planning [7,8], design [7,9], and operation and mainte- Therefore, the government has started actively supporting the usage of PV off-grid by nance (O&M) [10,11] phases, several problems emerge. There are a number of PV mi- providing funding to remote communities through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral crogrids funded by MEMR that have a shorter lifetime (approx. 4 years) compared to the Resources (MEMR). Tutukembung, Adaut, Wamana, and Ilwaki in the Maluku Province typical PV system lifetime (approx. 7 years), which was discovered via interviews with are examples of communities that already gained electricity access through that funding. NZMATES [12]. The perceived reason for this was, that the MEMR funds seem to cover PV microgrids are seen as a solution to increase the renewable energy penetration rate only initial investment costs. They include the costs made for design, procurement of ma- and accelerate the access to electricity in rural or remote areas, therefore increasing the terials, construction, and final commissioning, without provisions for the O&M costs. electrification ratio and simultaneously contributing to the Paris Agreement. Consequently, the local government is expected to deal with the O&M costs, which in However, the long-term reliability of PV microgrids has been an issue in Indonesia. most cases were not taken into account. The lack of O&M can lead to problems with the PV microgrids’ sustainability. This is a clear example of a technological issue that was identified as a potential challenge in Part I of this publication, “Te3: lack of O&M standard”. Even though there are training activities for the operators in the villages, the training is not sufficient for the local government to be able to operate PV microgrids. As a result, only initial investment costs. They include the costs made for design, procurement of materials, construction, and final commissioning, without provisions for the O&M costs. Consequently, the local government is expected to deal with the O&M costs, which in most cases were not taken into account. The lack of O&M can lead to problems with the PV microgrids’ sustainability. This is a clear example of a technological issue that was identified as a potential challenge in Part I of this publication, “Te3: lack of O&M standard”. Even though there are training activities for the operators in the villages, the training is not sufficient for the local government to be able to operate PV microgrids. As a result, the local operators will need to find technicians or engineers who commonly live or work far away from the microgrid location, resulting in longer downtimes and increased costs. Many papers discuss the sustainability and reliability of PVs or microgrids. In [13,14], the scholars reported the techno-economic feasibility and sustainability analysis of hybrid microgrids. In [15,16], the authors improve the sustainability of a hybrid energy system
Funding Information:
Funding: This publication is part of the project ANRGI—Accessible, Natural, Renewable, Growing, Interactive/Implementations with project number 482.19.510 of the research programme NWO Merian Fund: Cooperation Indonesia—The Netherlands Renewable Energy 2019 which is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/10/21
Y1 - 2021/10/21
N2 - This paper is the companion paper of Remote Microgrids for Energy Access in Indonesia “Part I: scaling and sustainability challenges and a technology outlook”. This part II investigates the issues of photovoltaic (PV) systems with respect to the planning, design, and operation, and maintenance phases in microgrids in Indonesia. The technology outlooks are also included as PV has an important role in providing electricity in the underdeveloped, isolated, and border areas. The data in this paper are from PV microgrids located in Maluku and North Maluku, which are two provinces where there is barely any grid connection available and thus very dependent on remote microgrids. The data are obtained from interviews with Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and NZMATES, which are an Indonesian utility company and a program for supporting role for the PV systems in Maluku funded by New Zealand respectively. Common issues with respect to reliability and sustainability are identified based on the provided data. Advanced technologies to increase reliability and sustainability are also presented in this paper as a technology outlook. Among these solutions are online monitoring systems, PV and battery lifetime estimation, load forecasting strategies, and PV inverters technology.
AB - This paper is the companion paper of Remote Microgrids for Energy Access in Indonesia “Part I: scaling and sustainability challenges and a technology outlook”. This part II investigates the issues of photovoltaic (PV) systems with respect to the planning, design, and operation, and maintenance phases in microgrids in Indonesia. The technology outlooks are also included as PV has an important role in providing electricity in the underdeveloped, isolated, and border areas. The data in this paper are from PV microgrids located in Maluku and North Maluku, which are two provinces where there is barely any grid connection available and thus very dependent on remote microgrids. The data are obtained from interviews with Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and NZMATES, which are an Indonesian utility company and a program for supporting role for the PV systems in Maluku funded by New Zealand respectively. Common issues with respect to reliability and sustainability are identified based on the provided data. Advanced technologies to increase reliability and sustainability are also presented in this paper as a technology outlook. Among these solutions are online monitoring systems, PV and battery lifetime estimation, load forecasting strategies, and PV inverters technology.
KW - Maluku and north maluku
KW - Microgrids
KW - Photovoltaic
KW - Technology outlook
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117587165&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/en14216901
DO - 10.3390/en14216901
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117587165
SN - 1996-1073
VL - 14
JO - Energies
JF - Energies
IS - 21
M1 - 6901
ER -
