The Future of Sustaining Energy Using Virtual Power Plant: Challenges and Opportunities for More Efficiently Distributed Energy Resources in Indonesia

摘要

Energy plays a vital role worldwide. In Indonesia, there are 40 million people living without electricity and this lack of electricity has hindered investment. Meanwhile, fossil energy sources are predicted to run out by 2015. This alarming condition encourages the researchers to find alternative renewable energy resources for sustainable energy. Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is a promising solution, especially in terms of storage and distribution of the energy. VPP collects energy from geothermal power, water, sun, wind, and so forth, operated by a single energy generator. The electricity produced is processed and distributed to several units. However, to date Indonesia has not utilised VPP as a device for more effective energy distribution although VPP has successfully been implemented in USA, Australia, Canada, and Japan. This article is aimed to analyse possible chances and challenges to effectively distribute energy resources by utilising the technology of VPP to realise the concept of sustainable energy in Indonesia. The research result reveals that there are several challenges encountered over the implementation of VPP regarding, namely: (a) the policy of energy management that is not technology-based; (b) unavailability of infrastructure supporting VPP; (c) participation of societies in electricity procurement; and (d) cyber security threat. In other side, Indonesia has a big opportunity to implement VPP, which are: (a) the change in electrical energy consumption; (b) increasing renewable energy need; (c) better environmental awareness; (d) more complex market; and (c) increasing interest of developed countries in VPP.