Solar Power Development in the Face of Climate Crisis Problems

Solar power technology has been around since 1883. In fact, the photovoltaic effect or the effect of sunlight that can produce electricity was first demonstrated in 1839 by French scientist Edmond Becquerel. After that, several scientists tried to develop research on solar power plants. It wasn't until 1883 that the first solar cell was created by French scientist Charles Fritts. In 1884, some scientists installed the first solar cell on a roof in New York. In 1922, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the advanced photovoltaic effect that revolutionized solar power technology. However, the development of solar power has been slow. The world prefers fossil fuels, and so does Indonesia.

"The utilization of solar energy in Indonesia is only 0.05 percent of the existing potential. So there are still many challenges that must be resolved together, one of which is the high production cost of PLTS," explained M. Arifin, Director of Planning and Infrastructure Development for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

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Indonesia prefers to use fossil fuels. Due to various reasons, namely PLTS requires a large cost, there are no human resources who want to manage PLTS properly, lack of large land. Whereas Indonesia is a tropical region that gets quite a lot of sunlight, so that the cost and land problems can be overcome.  The capital required to have a rooftop solar power plant is not cheap, but after installation, there is no need to pay for electricity. For example, UMN itself can save up to 15% of its total electricity usage costs. Solar panels can last approximately up to 25 years. Imagine how much money you can save (umn.ac.id). From using PLTS, we can save 30% of electricity every month (SUN Energy). 

There is no need for fossil fuel shortages, so the price of everything goes up. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy, so they may run out in a short time. In terms of land shortage, Indonesia has a land area of 1.9 million km2 (Worldometers). We can follow the example of South Korea. Although the country lacks land, they can manage PLTS well so that they become the 10th largest PLTS producer in the world. By the way they use PLTS on the sidewalk, taking the conclusion as a pedestrian shade. Besides being able to increase the surrounding electrical energy quickly through sunlight that hits directly on the solar panel, it can also reduce pollution, fatigue, and heat felt by the surrounding community during traffic jams or hot afternoons. 

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There are many factors that support these renewable energy changes to deal with the climate crisis that will emerge, but it is just that the quality of labor and human resources is still not well facilitated so that the resulting performance is not appropriate. Here are the many benefits and comparisons of PLTS among other renewable energies:

      Micro Solar Energy (2020)

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In order to realize the golden Indonesia 2045, it is necessary to pay attention to the main thing, namely the quality of human resources in managing natural resources wisely. In the current climate crisis, renewable energy faces various problems due to changing temperatures. The most reliable renewable energy during a climate crisis like now is PLTS (Solar Power Plant). Besides its source from the sun, it is an inexhaustible source of energy. It also cannot produce air pollution, which is one of the causes of ozone layer depletion and global warming. It can be concluded that the climate crisis is happening because of global warming. If we reduce the steam generated in fossil fuels, using natural energy, the climate crisis will not occur. Another perspective, climate crisis can cause the weather to decline at any time, but PLTS already has backup energy from drastic changes in temperature at that time so it will not be a problem because it already has energy reserves for electricity, adds water vapor, and also reduces pollution and adds oxygen, environmentally friendly.

https://lestari.kompas.com/read/2024/01/05/120000386/4-fakta-unik-soal-plts-yang-jarang-diketahui.
https://www.idntimes.com/science/experiment/nena-zakiah-1/alasan-indonesia-tidak-menggunakan-pembangkit-listrik-tenaga-surya-sebagai-sumber-energi-utama.

Aludra Fathiya Rahman
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