Smart grid technology for energy conservation in street lights: lesson learnt from six years' operation in Indonesia

The current problem of most existing street lighting is that their illuminance level is fixed regardless changes on pedestrian flows and passing traffic. Adjusting the illuminance level to actual needs of lightings that varies overnight potentially reduces energy consumptions. Such adaptive systems require a smart street lighting (SSL) technology that is able to monitor and automatically control street lightings in real time. Several cities in Indonesia has used SSL since 2012 and, therefore, this study aims to explore potential SSL expansions in the country. This paper uses a systematic review approach to analyze basic features of SSL technology; SSL global market prospects; factors influencing municipalities' acceptance, and evaluations of SSL systems in Indonesia from 2012 to 2018. Based on the review, policy recommendations are then proposed for the sustainable expansions and operations of SSL systems in Indonesia. One of the recommendations is to enhance the cooperation of energy service companies (ESCOs) to solve financing and technical problems faced by municipalities

Renewable energy projections for climate change mitigation: an analysis of uncertainty and errors

Failures of countries to set and achieve renewable energy targets are prevalent, producing uncertainty as to the possibility of renewable energy contributing to a reduction in global emissions. Lack of policy and incorrect modelling analyses are among the sources of these failures and understanding these two sources is crucial for improving confidence in renewables. We assess errors in projections pertaining to the capacity and production of renewable energy in the United States and those countries of the European Union that have strong commitments to green energy supply. Our results show that solar energy has the lowest level of uncertainty as it has the most achievable capacity projections. However, other renewables entail more attractive policies and further research is needed for the advancement of reliable technology and accurate weather predictions. Our findings also provide ranges for the projection uncertainties for six renewable energy technologies, drawing attentions to ways that the dominant errors in these renewable energy projections may be rectified

Sectoral electricity demand and direct rebound effects in New Zealand

This paper is one of the limited studies to investigate rebound effects in sectoral electricity consumption and the specific case of New Zealand. New Zealand, like other OECD economies, has aimed for energy efficiency improvements and reduced electricity consumption from 9.2 MWh per capita in 2010 to 8.6 MWh per capita in 2015. However, following a significant decline since 2010, electricity consumption in the main New Zealand sectors is increasing. Energy conservation could play an important role in meeting the growing demand for electricity but rebound effects can affect the effectiveness of conservation policies. We decompose the sectoral electricity prices to capture the asymmetric demand response to electricity price changes and estimate electricity demand elasticity during 1980 and 2015 to estimate the sectoral rebound effects. We find partial rebound effects of 54% and 23% in the industrial and commercial sectors respectively while we find no rebound effect at the aggregate level. The rebound effect is insignificant in the residential sector. These findings lead to policy recommendations for sector specific energy conservation measures and policies

Estimating the impacts of financing support policies towards photovoltaic market in Indonesia: a social-energy-economy-environment model simulation

This study develops a hybrid energy agent-based model that integrates the input-output analysis, environmental factors and socioeconomic characteristics of rural and urban households in Indonesia. We use the model to estimate the effects of four solar energy policy interventions on photovoltaic (PV) investments, government expenditure, economic outputs, CO emissions and the uses of steel, aluminium, concrete and energy. The results of our analysis call for the abolition of the PV donor gift policy, the improvement of production efficiency in the PV industry and the establishment of after-sales services and rural financing institutions. A 100 W peak (Wp) PV under this recommendation would be affordable for 80.6% of rural households that are projected to be without access to electricity in 2029. Net metering is the most effective policy for encouraging urban people to invest in PV in a situation where fossil energy prices are increasing and PV prices are declining. A donor gift policy may induce USD 51.9 new economic outputs for every Wp of PV operating to capacity in 2029, but would require a subsidy of USD 18.6/Wp. The recommended policies do not require subsidies and reduce CO emissions and the consumption of aluminium, energy, steel and concrete by between 83.1% and 89.7% more than the existing policy. Several policy implications are discussed in response to these findings. As a contribution to energy modelling literature, the model can be used for other developing countries by merely changing its data

Economical and environmental impacts of decarbonisation of Indonesian power sector

Renewable energy has been prioritised in decarbonising Indonesia's electricity system. Indonesia aims to attain an efficient energy system by applying renewable energy tariffs that are lower than the cost of fossil fuel-generated electricity. However, the effectiveness of this policy is questionable, as renewable energy investments under previous premium feed-in tariffs did not meet expectations. This study aims to estimate generation costs from renewable energy expansions under three scenarios, namely existing power plant planning, and 11% and 14% emission reductions in Indonesia's electricity sector. We develop an agent-based model (ABM) tool called PowerGen-ABM that employs multi-approaches: linear programming and input-output analysis. The optimisation result shows that the emission reduction targets would increase the average electricity generation costs in 2028 from 65.3 USD/ MWh in the existing plan of power plant expansions to 68.3 USD/ MWh. The increased costs are caused by insufficient dispatchable renewables in several regions such as North Maluku. Renewable energy production share in total electricity production and emission reduction achievement of the existing plan in 2025 will be 22.8% and 6.5% below the targets of 23% and 11%, respectively. In contrast, the emission reduction scenarios could achieve those targets due to higher renewables productions, especially with wind energy from 5,268 GWh in the existing plan into anywhere between 64,472 to 75,085 GWh. Several policy implications are discussed based on these findings

Exploring Alternative Policies to Reduce Electricity Subsidies in Indonesia

Electricity subsidies in Indonesia remain high and tend to increase. Existing studies generally propose electricity subsidy reform through economic price adjustment; however, this option potentially arises political and social conflicts. The government and the State Electricity Company have also undertaken several measures to decrease electricity supply costs but those measures remain ineffective due to increasing energy prices needed as fuels for power generations. Our study analyses the effectiveness of two alternative grants for LED lamps and rooftop photovoltaic (PV), to reduce electricity subsidies for low-income residential customers with 450 VA and 900 VA electricity capacity limits. The analysis result is that replacing existing lamps with LED lamps for all those customers will cost the government US$313.7 million but potentially decrease electricity subsidies to US$ 208.7 million/ year for 15 years. On the other hand, installing the rooftop PV system is ineffective to bring down the electricity subsidies. The investment cost of the on-grid rooftop PV system is between US$827.6 and US$ 1,310.3 per house, while the electricity subsidy savings for 20 years are between US$724.1 and US$ 744.8

Exploring Alternative Policies to Reduce Electricity Subsidies in Indonesia

Electricity subsidies in Indonesia remain high and tend to increase. Existing studies generally propose electricity subsidy reform through economic price adjustment; however, this option potentially arises political and social conflicts. The government and the State Electricity Company have also undertaken several measures to decrease electricity supply costs but those measures remain ineffective due to increasing energy prices needed as fuels for power generations. Our study analyses the effectiveness of two alternative grants for LED lamps and rooftop photovoltaic (PV), to reduce electricity subsidies for low-income residential customers with 450 VA and 900 VA electricity capacity limits. The analysis result is that replacing existing lamps with LED lamps for all those customers will cost the government US$313.7 million but potentially decrease electricity subsidies to US$ 208.7 million/year for 15 years. On the other hand, installing the rooftop PV system is ineffective to bring down the electricity subsidies. The investment cost of the on-grid rooftop PV system is between US$827.6 and US$ 1,310.3 per house, while the electricity subsidy savings for 20 years are between US$724.1 and US$ 744.8