Sources : Kontan.co.id | 22 May 2024

The combination of Solar Power Plants (PLTS) with batteries will produce affordable energy and will solve the world’s energy problems.

That is why, the development trend of PLTS is predicted to continue to increase in the future. Moreover, the price of PLTS technology is currently 90% cheaper compared to the last decade.

As reported by Kompas.com, SpaceX and Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk said that the development of PLTS is currently supported by increasingly cheaper prices. Apart from that, battery prices have also decreased by up to 10 times in the last five years. 

“The combination of PLTS and batteries could be a complementary solution,” said Elon Musk.

Musk added that the potential for sunlight is so large and so abundant that it can be a source of clean energy that meets human energy needs.

Every day, 1 square kilometer of the earth’s surface receives around 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar radiation. If maximized, the energy that can be produced reaches 1 gigatwatt hour (gwh) per 1 square kilometer.

The Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (Dirjen EBTKE) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Eniya Listiani Dewi, agrees that the price of PLTS will indeed fall further.

“If demand gets higher throughout the world, (prices) will definitely go down,” said Eniya to KONTAN, Tuesday (21/5).

Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) Fabby Tumiwa said that the price of PLTS technology is indeed much cheaper compared to a decade ago, when it fell by more than 90%.

According to Fabby, currently the price of electricity produced by PLTS is the cheapest compared to other clean energy. However, because the electricity source is sunlight, the supply is not constant because it is influenced by clouds, weather and seasons, so the electricity produced by PLTS is intermittent.

“Because it is intermittent, to use solar electricity for a long time or to provide 24-hour electricity, battery technology is needed,” he said to KONTAN, Tuesday (21/5).

Fabby said that batteries are useful for storing electricity so that they can be used whenever needed, either at night when there is no sunlight or when the weather is unfavorable.

For this reason, said Fabby, PLTS needs to be equipped with batteries to be able to produce constant power output. Because the combination of PLTS and batteries will produce electricity that is cheaper than gas.

In fact, almost all countries are already using these two combinations, such as China as the country with the highest PLTS growth. In Europe, which has four seasons, these two combinations are used, such as in Germany, Poland and other European countries.

Apart from that, other countries such as the United States and Asian countries, such as China and India. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the country with the highest PLTS growth. Meanwhile in Australia, the number of rooftop PLTS has almost reached 2.5 million households using PLTS.

Chairman of the Indonesian Private Electricity Producers Association (APLSI) Arthur Simatupang admitted that PLTS prices are getting cheaper. This trend will continue in the next few years. “To increase the number of PLTS, incentives are needed so that there is acceleration,” said Arthur to KONTAN.