The Too Slow Flow
Why Indonesia could get all its power from volcanoes—but doesn't
By Peter Janssen
Newsweek International
Sept. 6-13 issue - American giants like ChevronTexaco and Unocal began exploring the vast energy potential trapped in Indonesian volcanoes two decades ago, when Jakarta opened the sector to foreign investors. An archipelago of 17,000 islands spanning three time zones, Indonesia sits on the Asian-Pacific "ring of fire" and boasts the world's highest density of volcanoes—about 500—of which 128 are still active; 65 of these are listed as "dangerous." The upside: volcanoes make Indonesia the only large nation in the world with the potential to generate 100 percent of its electricity from clean, endless stores of geothermal energy. Yet 20 years on, the country has just a few small geothermal plants, including one run by a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco called Amoseas Indonesia Inc.
That may be about to change. In June Indonesia ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, making it eligible for millions in subsidies for projects that cut emissions of greenhouse gases. Amoseas has applied for approximately $5 million in credits that could make or break a planned $100 million expansion of its operations on the Darajat volcano in West Java, more than doubling output to 330 megawatts, enough to power a medium-size city. That's not much, but it would be a step toward reviving Indonesia's geothermal master plan.
Under President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia is finally building some reform-minded momentum, seven years after the Asian financial crisis derailed an early-1990s plan to develop 11 geothermal plants producing 3,417 megawatts. Tapping a volcano involves drilling wells to reach the hot steam created by underground lava flows; risks are fairly high, and the payback period is long. When the '97 crisis toppled Indonesian dictator Suharto and sent the economy into a spin, seven of the 11 contracts were suspended. But now several are being restructured, led by the Amoseas deal.
Multinationals had several complaints about the way Suharto did business, some of which have been cleared away. A 2001 law ended the requirement that geothermal exploration be conducted in partnership with the state oil company, Pertamina. Under Suharto, Indonesia also required developers to take on a local partner, which often meant one of the dictator's sons, Tommy. Today Tommy is in prison for masterminding the murder of a judge, but the partner rule remains. So, too, do subsidies that continue to undercut alternatives. Until those biases are removed, geothermal "won't take off," warns Emil Salim, a former Environment minister.
Amoseas entered into a contract with Pertamina in 1984 to develop Darajat, and has not yet recovered its initial investment. Company officials say the expansion plans depend on getting Kyoto credits; geothermal plants emit 1,800 times less carbon dioxide than coal-burning plants and 1,600 times less than oil-burning plants. Once again, that's being delayed by bureaucracy; Indonesia has yet to set up an agency to handle applications, as required by the United Nations, which oversees the credit system. It may take years, if not decades, before the country can burn through the red tape and tap its volcanoes.
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5852678/site/newsweek/
The Little Weed That Could
Newsweek International
Sept. 6-13 issue - When Americans settled the Western prairies in the 1800s, they came across fields of swaying switch grass four meters high. Since the early 1990s the U.S. Department of Energy has been looking into whether this humble but hardy plant might develop into a replacement for fossil fuels. Scientists have long known how to turn plants into ethanol, but they hadn't gotten the hang of doing it cheaply. Now researchers are discovering inexpensive ways of making not only ethanol but other petroleum-based products, like plastic, from plants.
One of the most promising innovations is a genetically engineered strain of switch grass that might be a source of biodegradable plastics. With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the DOE, Metabolix, a research firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has inserted into the switch grass genes from a bacterium that naturally forms PHB—a chemical precursor to plastic. The idea is to eventually harvest the grass and feed it into "a biological version of an oil refinery," says Ray Miller, a researcher at Du Pont. Such an "integrated biorefinery" could take in switch grass, as well as plants like corn, and churn out ethanol, biodegradable plastics and other petrochemical substitutes. Du Pont, which has received about $20 million from the DOE for the project, hopes to open its first pilot integrated biorefinery in three years. Rather than being paid for not growing food, farmers may one day grow grass for fuel.
—Michael Hastings
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5852746/site/newsweek/