Social and technical barriers that affect the growth of small-scale hydropower independent power producers in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia has a strong commitment on increasing renewable energy resource utilization to produce electricity. One of the potential renewable energy resources is hydropower. In Indonesia, the hydropower is divided into small scale hydropower (less than or equal to 10 MW) and hydropower (more than 10 MW). In order to enhance the utilization of small scale hydropower several financial and regulation supports have been released. In this study the growth of small scale independent power producer has been investigated. The study focused in Sumatera Utara province which is known as the province with big potency of small scale hydropower and the electricity infrastructure is quite developed. The results reveal that there are 115 locations of small scale hydropower projects had been developing in the province. The total capacity is 930.3 MW. However, only seven of the projects (6%) have been in operation stage and produce electricity to the grid. Almost all of the projects have experienced on over design budget and time. There are several technical and social barriers that affect the growth. Technical barriers include low quality of pre and full feasibility studies, low quality of detailed engineering design (DED), limited access to relevant expertise, tend to underestimate the technical complexity of developing a small-scale hydropower. Social barriers include the environmental issue, land acquisition, and electricity needs of local people.