Family Hydro - An OTC Product?

TC did a great presentation yesterday. He talked about family hydro and all development possibilities.

So family hydro in Indonesia is defined as very small, less than micro, hydropower that have capacity less than 1 kW and able to serve max 3-4 families. There is now only one technological option: propeller turbine. In the future, there is another option: cross flow turbine.

Let us start with the propeller. There are two types with same operation principle. They need draft tube to make the runner spin. The first type TC calls it “land mine”. It has permanent magnet so that as soon as the runner spins it will produce electricity. TC calls it land mine because of that dangerous aspect. The turbine has to be submerged therefore there is a risk of electrocute. It produces max 100 watts. It needs average 10 liters of water with head at least 3 meters. The second type is also a propeller turbine with max capacity of 2 kW. It needs at least 30 liters per second flow and at least 7 meters head. It is safer than the “land mines”.

Why they call it family hydro? Because usually you need to go a little out of the village to get a decent hydro potential that has enough head and flow. That kind of potential might able to serve the whole village. Many conditions found that hydropower sites near settlements are having only limited head and small flow. At those sites, you can install something small that can serve a family or some more families. This is where the family hydro term came.

Was it user friendly? It turned out that even the “land mines” still need people that have ideas on how hydropower works. The bigger family propeller needs more civil construction than simple gutter. The “land mines” is still too difficult to install for normal user, although it is intended as a product that can be sold easily on a hardware store (Over the Counter (OTC) product). Those products are still too complex to install for normal people.

Those products (land mine and family propeller) have very crucial limitation. They do not operate in a wide operation range. They need specific head and flow. If you have something different, they will not work or work but with poor efficiency. Why they have poor performance? Because they have fixed guide vane that can only work with specific condition. Family cross flow turbine (up to 2 kW so far) will soon eliminate this limitation.

Family cross flow is designed to be simple yet robust turbine. Simple workshop should able to produce it easily with decent quality and performance. It has wider operation range because one can adjust the guide vane. The problem is: it needs people that understands hydropower to install. It needs more complex civil structure than propeller. It also does not operate very well in sites with head less than 7 meters. I never make any site statistics, but finding a site with 7 meters head close to a settlement should not that difficult.

The family cross flow set different standard. It shall be able to service more than one family. It is easily produced in regions (while the propeller is coming only from Bandung – copyright restriction). It should be able to boost the application of family hydropower. It does not need outside support to finance the construction. It has wider operation range so that it can operate all year round with slightest decrease of efficiency. It is safer than the propeller especially the land mine.

Family hydro is still far for being an OTC product. Propeller might have the biggest chance but it needs more improvement. Improvement needed are: safety issue, multi guide vane package propeller, clear understandable installation procedure. For now, family hydro products only provide pre-electrification measures. They need to prove its salability in real market.(picture: CIT, Bandung)

BTEL's Sins

BTEL or Bakrie Telecommunication (http://www.bakrietelecom.com/) is a new company that has three main products: esia, wifone and wimode. All are using CDMA system instead of GSM. When they started their business some years ago, they boast for cheap telecommunication. It was and it is still cheap with a big “BUT”.

I used wifone, a fixed wireless phone from BTEL(http://www.wifone.co.id/). I have used it for approximately 2 years. Before using Wifone, I used Telkom Flexi. Flexi has weak signal in my place but according to others who use it, the signal is much stronger now than 2 years ago. I stick to Wifone because the phone looks nice, internet access with the phone is fast (although, see below) and it is wireless (c’mon).

The internet does not work with Windows XP. I have to use my other computer that has W2K installed to access the internet. The old computer, a Vaio P3 900Mhz with only 128 MB memory, is just too slow now. Although the internet connection is fast but the computer is the bottleneck. I tried to reinstall wifone driver too many times without any single success in WinXP machine. Finally, I gave up. I filed a complaint to Wifone but there is no real solution for the problem except that I have to bring the phone to Kuningan where Wifore HQ situated. It’s just too much for me to come down there without any positive prospect. If customer service has known the issue long time, they should provide an update in their webpage. They do not do it.

Now there is this accessibility problem. I can hardly able to call outside number or call the wifone number most of the time in a day. The signal bars shows full signal, but still I cannot make outgoing call. Incoming call is also not possible. This is dangerous because that Wifone is the only way I can contact my son at home. Calling to other wifone is also not possible in that condition.

I think BTEL suffers typical short-term profit making syndrome. They can only sell sell and sell. They cannot give the promised services. I think they purposely kill my connection at most of the time so that they can give more bandwidth to the active lines. This is very bad because all customers have the same right. They do not want to increase the quantity of the infrastructure because it is cost. They just do not care for customers.

In many online media, there are many complaints about BTEL performance and also BTEL’s bad after sales service. For example this http://suarapembaca.detik.com/index.php/detik.read/tahun/2008/bulan/04/tgl/02/time/125320/idnews/917129/idkanal/283.
For those that are planning to get a new telephone connection, please reconsider when you find BTEL’s product interesting. Their service is just below standard. Success rate of call is very bad in one day. For your information, BTEL’s owner is also the one that owns Lapindo Brantas. As you might already know, Lapindo Brantas created the mud catastrophe in East Java. They did not do proper drilling techniques and created the problems and make thousands of people suffers. BTEL’s owner is just an example of greedy type of people. They only want profit without any will to repay the one who suffered because of them.

So, please think carefully before you buy CDMA phone. Choose wisely support good company.

more complaints (in bahasa)
http://www.mediakonsumen.com/Artikel1768.html

Caution – GREED

Greed has made the “free market” of America fell apart. Government of the US has to make a similar move of Indonesian in 1999 to rescue its economy. US government has to deny its own economic principles: against nationalization and regulation of market. US government is now nationalizing some private financial firms (so that no foreign capital eats it) and regulating the market. This has showed the failure of liberal economy theory. This has shown the danger of liberalization and total privatization without limits. Greed, once again greed, can make everything collapse.

Islam says stop when you have enough. As far as I know, last year the Pope also says that one of the dangerous things in the world today is super wealthy people that are greedy. I think all religions agree about this. Someone has to limit and control his/her greed. I say this is the bad sign of materialism. Greed comes from materialism root.

So what’s for Indonesia? Liberalization of electricity market was once a hot discussion when Law No.20 of 2002 exists. At that time, the main opposition was coming from PLN’s worker union. There was no further discussion about the good and the bad thing of full liberalization of electricity sector. The constitution court was finally annulled the law based on the argument that electricity is influencing to people’s livelihood therefore it should not be privatized. The law is in principle against the principles of Constitution 1945.

I am not against liberalization as long as there is a limit and it does not involve gambling. Liberalization can bring efficiency and finally bring the cost down. Lower cost means lower price for customers and it is certainly beneficial for them. That liberalized market has to have limits so that there is no “gambling” option for market player. I think the fell down of the US economy is because this “gambling” actions. I believe, derived market (options, futures etc.) is very much supporting “gambling”.

The annulment of Law 20 of 2002 was in time. At that time, the market infrastructure was not available, supporting regulations were not available (e.g. coal market regulation etc.) therefore, the continuation of the law might bring chaos. Constitution court has made a correct decision. However, monopoly should be stopped. PLN is now monopolizing the sector and the worst thing is that PLN does not have clear identity (either being fully private entity or public service entity). PLN being in the monopoly has create difficulties in developing electricity sub sector for example the implementation of small renewable energy generation decree (PSK Tersebar Decree of 2002).

The conclusions are:

• Man made things are not perfect (including the free market economic theory
• Government has to be strong and act as needed. Free certain part of the market and regulate necessarily
• The important conclusion is: do not become a greedy person. It is just bad for you and for other people.

Have a nice day. It is very hot now in Jakarta.

Poverty Conscious Leaders

Some days ago, there was this tragic accident in Tuban, East Java. Some 20 people are dead in the struggle to get IDR 40.000 from a wealthy local businessperson. Let us put the site condition at the day of the accident (too many people in such a small space and there was no proper security control or mass control) aside. The tragic accident happened because many people wanted to get IDR 40.000 (please note only IDR 40.000). IDR 40.000 means 6 liters of subsidized gasoline, two cans of subsidized 3 kg LPG, one cheese burger at MacD (hardly make you feel full), 10 times meal with Nasi Kucing standard (in Jogja), or 20 packs of instant noodle. The accident showed that people are at the lowest condition now. There are many poor people living under one US$ per day. With keep rising inflation rate, the life is becoming harder for them.

That is only in Tuban. There are more poor people in many unreported places in Indonesia, especially in rural areas. This condition is a difficult homework for any leaders in any areas in Indonesia. They are, especially the president, are responsible for this bad condition. The government supposes to ensure the life of the citizen is easy. Basic needs such as food, housing, and clothing should be easily got.

Indonesia is now experiencing rather “bad” transformation. Individualistic is becoming more and more popular. One can notice this if s/he pays attention in the urban areas (e.g. Jakarta). High-rise apartments are constructed everywhere. Living in an apartment nurtures individualistic lifestyle. In rural areas, many people are going to urban to work and this educates them to be individualistic because living in urban area is tough. The strong is the winner. This has made many villages lost their “good practices”. I cannot see anymore “village food stock” or we call it Lumbung Desa in the villages in Java. Lumbung Desa keeps crops of the villagers. The crops will be used together when there were hardships in the village (rainy season, failing harvest etc.). Agricultural livelihood cannot support villagers anymore. Traditional fishermen cannot beat the “climate change” that has made the waves bigger and weather unpredictable. Condition is rather grey for villagers and this has made people become poor. The chance to get free money (although very little) has made poor people excited and ignored possible dangers.

Government has to work with those facts. Government has to change those conditions. Leaders are the key. As Indonesians are mostly patriarchal, any examples of the leaders will be followed. Strong, pro-poor leaders are needed. Sometimes leaders are too much carried out with corporate demands instead of people demand. Local independency is important (e.g. energy and food) should be prioritized. Programs to increase the usage of local products, reduce unnecessary imports, reduce economic gaps between urban and rural have to be done. Not to forget battle against corruption is not to be lost.

In Islam, leader or Imam must have higher knowledge than anybody in the religious and also governmental aspects and in other aspects such as economy. Islam does not separate governing a community with religious spirit. Religious content of governing is important to ensure “pure” commitments exist and self-control works. Leaders should be the best of the best because they will answer to God later in the end of the day. Now the condition in Indonesia is not exactly like that. People that have money can come to power despite lack of necessary knowledge. Money driven leaders will not be pro-poor and finally the poor will stay poor (if not poorer) and the rich becomes richer (or less rich if they are not lucky).

Finally let us hope 2009 election (for all leaders including leaders in the parliament) is for pro-poor and high knowledge/skillful leaders. Let us hope the next president has “pure” commitment, pro-poor, and has high spiritual content in each of his decision. Amin.