| Title | Lahendong Geothermal Education Park: a Proposed Geothermal Public Education Facility in the Eastern Part of Indonesia |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pri Utami, J Khasani, N Roeroe, Z Tuerah, I Bachrun, K Rozaq, and M Gumalag |
| Year | 2011 |
| Conference | New Zealand Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | Lahendong, geothermal education park, public education facility |
| Abstract | The Lahendong geothermal field is located in Tomohon City, about 30 km south of Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi Province. The field is located in a beautiful, steep volcanic terrain at about 750 m above sea level, with vigorous thermal manifestations including fumaroles, gas discharges, steaming ground, hot springs, hot mud pools with mud volcanoes, and altered ground. Lahendong is the first geothermal system developed in an arc-arc collision setting. The electricity production began in August 2001, and to date the system is producing 60 MWe. A direct utilization plant for drying palm sugar has been operating since 2008 to make use of the heat of the waste brine. Nonetheless, utilization of geothermal steam by the locals have begun much earlier with the use of steam from boiling springs for sauna. As well as being the hosts of renewable energy resource many geothermal sites in Indonesia including Lahendong, are quite popular tourist destinations but rarely realized, natural laboratories which provide everyone unlimited chance for learning. Unfortunately, the chance is not yet widely open due to the lack of learning facility. Development of a geothermal education park in Lahendong is beneficial in many respects. Most importantly, the park will function as a geothermal public education facility. This will in turn help accelerate the development of the geothermal resources in the eastern part of the country by: 1) strengthening public support, 2) increasing the number of the Eastern Indonesian young people who are interested to be involved in geothermal research and development. Our paper describes overview of the field setting, the cultural, scientific and technological significances of the Lahendong geothermal environment, our proposal of park concept, as well as the mechanism of park development. |