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FEASIBILITY STUDY ON SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM INTEGRATED

TO SULTRABAR SYSTEM
( Studi Kelayakan Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Surya Terintegrasi Ke
Sistem Sultrabar)
Sri Mawar Said & Rachmat Santosa
Jurusan Teknik Elektro Fakultas Teknik Universitas Hasanuddin
Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km. 10 Tamalanrea - Makassar, 90245
Telp./Fax: (0411) 588111
e-mail: srimawarsaid@yahoo.com

Abstract
It is a well known fact that the Republic of Indonesia in general and the Sulawesi Selatan
province in particular is experiencing a crises of electrical energy. Considering the
importance of electrical energy supply for the welfare of the people, in particular for their
economic activities, it is absolutely necessary that all possible efforts should be studied and
their executions considered targeting the elimination of the electrical energy crises or at
least the amelioration of its negative impacts. Considering that the country is tracked by the
equator, it will not be difficult to imagine that it is rich in solar energy sources. The problem
is, the utilization of solar energy in Indonesia is still at the minimum level, in other words
barely existing. Cases in many other countries, in particular the US, are different. In those
countries the uses of solar energy are well promoted and totally encouraged through well
designed and socialized programs. It is the above situation that has given us the idea to
conduct this study. The goal is to widen the opening of the curtain that covers the possible
utilization of solar energy to ameliorate the electrical energy crises in the Sulsel (Sulawesi
Selatan) province whose power system is integrated with those of the Sulbar (Sulawesi
Barat) province and the Sultra (Sulawesi Tenggara) province, hence the term Sultrabar
system. This study covers studies on the gap between demand and supply of electrical energy
in Sulsel, the availability of solar energy utilization technologies to produce electricity that
can meet demand for electrical power in this region, as well as the economic feasibility of
those technologies to be integrated to the Sultrabar system. This is but a preliminary and
summary study to be followed by more detailed studies.
Keywords: Solar energy, photovoltaic cells, system integration, solar panel, concentrated
solar power, parabolic mirror.

INTRODUCTION
The Electricity Situation in Sulsel.
Generating Capacities Sulawesi Selatan System.
With regard to the generating capacity of the Sulawesi Selatan system, at the moment the Sulawesi Selatan
system has 169 generating units, consisting of 7 hydro generating units and 162 thermal generating units. Out
of those 169 generating units, 46 units are owned by the PLN while 123 units are owned by private companies
or rented. In term of capacity, the generating capacity owned by PLN is 346 mW and the private companies
own 390 mW. Figure 1 gives the existing generating system of Sulawesi Selatan.
The whole existing generating capacity has an installed capacity of 736 mW (see Appendix 1).
Peak Load Growth in Sulawesi Selatan.
The daily load curve of the Sulsel system can be seen on Figure 2 here below. The figure makes it obvious that
peak loads of the Sulsel system are increasing from year to year, as is common and already expected
beforehand. Peak load in 2001 is around 400 mW, and ten years thereafter, in 2009, the peak load of the Sulsel
system has already reached 560 mW. So there is a load increase rate of around 40% in a decade.

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Figure 1. Generating units in Sulsel.

Figure 2. Daily load curve, Sulsel system 2001-2009

At such load increase rate, clearly the PT. PLN, as the authority in electricity in Inonesia, must continuously
add new generating units. As a matter of fact several generating units owned by PLN have been operating at
100% capacity and this simply can not go on. Therefore PLN has made plans for new generating units to be
built in 2011 - 2016. Figure 3 shows the plans. For details of the plans see Appendix 2.
Figure 4 then shows the superimposing of peak load growth and generating capacity growth as planned by
PLN. From this figure it should become clear that more should be done, including the construction of solar
energy systems, certainly by PLN itself but perhaps also by individuals, cooperatives and private companies.
They may build solar energy systems for their own use and sell the excessive energy produced to the PLN.

Figure 3. Plans for new generating units in Sulawesi Selatan

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Figure 4. Peak load growth and generating capacity in Sulawesi Selatan 2010-2020.

SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS INTEGRATED TO THE EXISTING GRID.

Solar Energy Systems
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly
using concenrated solar power (CSP) plants. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and
tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into electric
current using the photoelectric effect.
Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s, and the 354 MW SEGS CSP
installation is the largest solar power plant in the world and is located in the Mojave Desert of California. Other
large CSP plants include the Solnova Solar Power Station (150 MW) and the Andasol solar power station (100
MW), both in Spain. The 97 MW Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant in Canada, is the worlds largest
photovoltaic plant.
Integration of Solar Energy Systems to Existing Grids
Significant reliance on weather dependent resources like solar will require a change in grid operating
paradigms. The electric power system has developed historically with thermal power plants as the main source
of generation. Nearly 90% of the installed generation capacity in the United States is comprised of dispatchable natural gas, coal or nuclear power resources. The situation in Sul-sel province of Indonesia is not much
different. The addition of significant quantities of weather dependent and variable sources of power will
require changes to many of the practices and policies that are oriented around dispatch-able thermal plants.
Studies of increased levels of solar (and wind) generation show that the variability and uncertainty associated
with weather dependent resources can be managed with increased operating reserves, increased access to
flexibility in conventional generation plants, better management of electricity between adjacent electrical areas
(balancing areas), access to other sources of flexibility in power systems, including demand response and
energy storage, and incorporation of forecasting of solar generation into system operations. With 10 20% of
electricity derived from photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) systems, the electric power
system will have to be planned and operated differently. Solars variability and uncertainty requires new
sophistication of real-time operations and planning practices. Maintaining reliability and the most economic
dispatch will undoubtedly lead to new strategies to manage the grid. The need to evolve new grid operating
paradigms becomes even more significant as solar generation is likely to be concurrently deployed with a
substantial amount of wind generation.
Solar electricity has unique attributes, relative to conventional generation, that need to be accounted for to
reach high penetrations of solar. The primary characteristics of solar relevant to system operation and planning
are variability, uncertainty and capacity value. While there has been little measurement data available for
analysis of variability and geographic diversity on different temporal and spatial scales in different climatic
regions, there are some general characteristics that are known about the solar resource.
With respect to power system operations, the most relevant characteristics of solar generation is the output
variability and rate of change (ramping) over different time periods, and the predictability of these ramping
events. Figure 5 illustrates the high degree of variability and high ramp rates that can occur on a single PV
plant over a short time frame (seconds to minutes) due to passing clouds. Figure 2.1 also shows that the

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aggregate of multiple solar plants over a wide geographical area has far less variability and smaller short-term
ramp rates, demonstrating one way to mitigate short-term variability issues.

Figure 5. Solar variability: 100 small PV systems across Germany 1995

The variability and predictability of solar electric generation depends on the degree of correlation of cloudinduced variability between solar plants (the component of the variability due to the movement of the sun in the
sky will of course be correlated between all plants). The correlation between solar plants, in turn, depends on
the locations of solar plants and the regional characteristics of cloud patterns. Generally, the variability of solar
plants that are further apart are less correlated, and variability over shorter time periods (minutes) is less
correlated than variability over longer time periods (multiple hours) (Murata et al. 2009). The decrease in
correlation with distance leads to much less variability (smoothing effect) and much more accurate forecasts of
solar plants aggregated over a region relative to the scaled output of a single solar plant. It should be noted that
in absolute terms the variability and forecast error will increase with increasing quantities of solar.
Unlike PV systems, most CSP plant designs have inherent thermal storage that greatly reduce or eliminate
short-term variability. Parabolic trough plants using oil as the heat-transfer fluid and modern direct-steam
systems with integrated steam storage vessels can typically operate with no solar input for a period of roughly
half an hour (Steinmann and Eck 2006). Dish CSP plants have less thermal inertia than the other CSP
technologies, and thus the output of these plants can vary much more with passing clouds.
Some CSP plant designs have multi-hour thermal energy storage, allowing them to generate electricity even
during periods with low or zero solar input. This provides operating flexibility and the ability to shift solar
generation into the evening hours or other periods to better match the load profile and provide more value. The
additional capital costs for multi-hour thermal storage must be justified by the reduced levelized cost and/or
increased value of power delivered by the plant (Sioshansi and Denholm 2010). A number of cost projections
indicate that the addition of thermal storage will reduce the leveled cost of solar energy for parabolic trough
plants (DOE and EPRI 1997; Sargent & Lundy 2003; Stoddard et al. 2006). Thermal storage with molten-sa28
lt power tower plants is projected to produce even more pronounced reductions in the levelized cost of energy
relative to power towers without storage.
With the exception of dish plants, existing CSP plant designs can also be readily augmented with fossil-fueled
generation, providing either short- or long-term dispatchable output in the absence of solar input. The operating
Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) plants in Southern California, for example, include natural gas fuel
augmentation.
With respect to system planning, the most relevant characteristic of solar is the correlation of solar power with
periods of high electricity demand, and therefore high system risk. The correlation between solar resources and
high demand affects the capacity credit that can be assigned to solar generation for the purposes of generation
resource planning. The capacity credit assigned to the generation resource indicates the fraction of its nameplate
capacity that contributes to the overall capability of the system to reliably meet demand. The capacity credit of
new solar plants is expected to be greatest where electricity load and solar production are strongly correlated.
Electricity demand in most of the U.S., and particularly in the Southwestern U.S., is the greatest during summer
afternoons when solar insolation is also generally high. Figure 7-3 illustrates the coincidence of electricity load
and modeled solar output for a CSP plant with no storage or with six hours of thermal storage.

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The Economics of Solar Power Systems

Bloomberg New Energy Finance, in March 2011, put the 2010 cost of solar panels at $1.80 per watt, but
estimated that the price would decline to $1.50 per watt by the end of 2011. Nevertheless, there are exceptions-Nellis Air Force Base is receiving photoelectric power for about 2.2 /kWh and grid power for 9 /kWh. Also,
since PV systems use no fuel and modules typically last 25 to 40 years, the International Conference on Solar
Photovoltaic Investments, organized by EPIA, has estimated that PV systems will pay back their investors in 8
to 12 years. As a result, since 2006 it has been economical for investors to install photovoltaics for free in return
for a long term power purchase agreement. Fifty percent of commercial systems were installed in this manner in
2007 and it is expected that 90% will by 2009. By 2020, PV power is expected to become competitive with
fossil fuel in many of the European countries, with costs declining to about half of those in 2010.
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) facilities produce power more cheaply than photovoltaic systems and may
eventually be price-competitive with conventional power plants. The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility is expected
to produce power at costs comparable to natural gas.
Additionally, governments have created various financial incentives to encourage the use of solar power.
Renewable portfolio standards impose a government mandate that utilities generate or acquire a certain
percentage of renewable power regardless of increased energy procurement costs. In most states, RPS goals can
be achieved by any combination of solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, ocean, geothermal, municipal solid waste,
hydroelectric, hydrogen, or fuel cell technologies. In Canada, the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program
(RESOP), introduced in 2006 and updated in 2009 with the passage of the Green Energy Act, allows residential
homeowners in Ontario with solar panel installations to sell the energy they produce back to the grid at
42/kWh, while drawing power from the grid at an average rate of 6/kWh. The program is designed to help
promote the government's green agenda and lower the strain often placed on the energy grid at peak hours. In
March, 2009 the proposed feed-in tariff was increased to 80/kWh for small, roof-top systems (10 kW).
A publication by Solar Electricity Price shows that prices of solar electricity are as given by Table 2.1 below.
Considering that prices of electricity produced by conventional, mostly thermal, generating units in the US
varies from the cheapest at 5.58 c/kWh to the most expensive at 32.05 c/kWh (See Appendix 3) obviously the
prices of solar electricity are, to say it mildly, competitive.
Table 1. Solar electricity prices

CONCLUSIONS

Solar power systems are competitive in producing electricity for various uses, i.e. residential, commercial,
industrial.
Solar power systems can be integrated into the existing grids of the Sultrabar system provided the
electricity authority, namely PLN, is willing to change its operational paradigms.
Many things have still to be done among others making available skilled and dedicated human resources
concerned with the environmental issues, encouraging the peoples initiative to start installing solar power
systems at their homes etc.
The political will of the Indonesian government is crucial in order to

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REFERENCES
Lew, D. and Milligan, M., 2009, How do Wind and Solar Power Affect Grid Operations: The Western Wind
and Solar Integration Study , 8th International Workshop on Large Scale Integration of Wind Power and on
Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Farms, Bremen, Germany, October 1415, 2009
Murata, A., H. Yamaguchi, and K. Otani. 2009. A Method of Estimating the Output Fluctuation of Many
Photovoltaic Power Generation Systems Dispersed in a Wide Area. Electrical Engineering in Japan, 166, no.
4: 9-19.
Sioshansi, R. and P. Denholm. 2010 The Value of Concentrating Solar Power and Thermal Energy Storage.
NREL/TP-6A2-45833. Golden, CO: NREL. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/45833.pdf
Solar Vision Study, Draft, May 28, 2010
Steinmann, Wolf-Dieter, and Markus Eck. 2006. Buffer storage for direct steam generation. Solar Energy, 80,
no. 10 (October): 1277-1282. 12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power

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