Figure 1. The professors were discussing on renewable energy development in Indonesia.
On April 26, 2019, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) hosted their 4th Professor’s forum in Bandung. The topic of this forum was the development of renewable energy in Indonesia. Three speakers were invited on this forum such as Prof. Priyono Soetikno, Prof. Yazid Bindar, Ph.D., and Prof. Dr. Zaki Su’ud. This forum was also attended by several academicians who were concerned about the energy sector.
Prof. Priyono Soetikno explained that Indonesia mostly used coal and oil as their primary energy sources. On the other hand, other countries had developed nuclear and other renewable energy types for their energy basis. Indonesia had a major potency on renewable energy types such as solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, and biomass. However, the development was lacking support and incentive from the government. If the government were fully committed to renewable energy development, it would be our second main energy sources alongside coal.
On the second session, Prof. Yazid Bindar, Ph.D. presented the significant increase of vehicle number from 1960 to 2018. The government must find a solution before the oil price would burden our national expenditure. ITB offered the development of bio-crude oil as one of the solutions. Bio-crude oil had been well studied by ITB and RTC-Pertamina in Jatinangor. The advantages of using bio-crude oil were the source is renewable and easy to get.
At the final session, Prof. Dr. Zaki Su’ud mentioned that the development of a nuclear power plant is essential for Indonesia’s future. The challenge is to ensure the people about the potency of nuclear as the new energy sources. As a comparison, the coal power plant had 10-100 times bigger radiation than the latest nuclear power plant technology because it is directly exposed to the air. Also, the waste from the 4th generation of nuclear power plant (the latest nuclear power plant technology) could be reused as fuel.
