Smart cities harness data and digital connectivity to improve their operations, including sustainable energy management. On October 13th 2021, Think Smartgrids took part in a webinar on smart cities organized by the Indonesian Association of Electricity Companies MKI, in order to explore enabling technologies and data sharing methods to make cities smarter and more sustainable. Indonesian government representatives and international experts shared their views on the future of smart cities, and the best technologies availiable to make them cleaner and leaner.
Think Smartgrids, which federates and represents the French smart grid ecosystem, has been working with Indonesia for several years. In 2017, the association signed a MoU with PLN, which led to a feasibility study for the development of microgrids on the islands of Sulawesi and Lombok. The MoU was renewed in March 2019 and more recently, the association was invited by MKI to participate in several webinars to present French know-how in smart grids.
In this 7th Smart Grid Webinar organized by MKI, Think Smartgrids was represented by Mr. Kaveh Razazian, CTO Energy and Telecom at Sagemcom. Mr. Razazian presented G3-PCL hybrid technology, a secure, interoperable and cost-effective powerline communication technology with a wide range of applications. Combining PLC and RF with automatical routing to chose the best channel at any time, it offers extended capabilities for smart grid and IoT applications. Mr Kaveh presented presented the benefits of this technology for the integration of electric vehicle charging stations into a smart electric grid.
Other speakers included ICT Applications, Smart City & Community Innovation Center, Jeju Energy Corporation, Jakarta Smart City, TIDE smart energy solutions, and PT Indonesia Comnets Plus.
Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan (ICT Applications) started off the webinar with the roadmap of the Indonesian government for digital transformation acceleration. He presented the benefits of smart cities, such as improving people’s quality of life, attracting investors, and developing new business opportunities. Professor Suhono Supangkat (Smart City & Community Innovation Center) shared his thoughts on the need to reinvent our cities through innovations. He presented a smart city model built on three pillars: smart economy, smart society, and smart environment.
Woohyun Hwang (Jeju Energy Corporation) described the evolution of a more and more complex transmission and distribution network in Korea, brought by challenges such as decarbonization, decentralization, and digitalization. Yudhistira Nugraha (Jakarta Smart City) shared his vision of the future smart city, and put into perspective the different definitions of the smart city, from innovative emerging technologies for service providers, to better living conditions for citizens.
Peter Jung (TIDE) then presented smart city projects in Korea, aiming at enhencing the sustainability of cities and fostering new industries.
Lastly, the strategy of the indonesian utility PLN to foster Indonesia’s energy transition was presented by Julita Indah (ICON+). This strategy is based on four pillars: renewable energy, reliability, innovative business models, and customer focus.
Some of the questions raised by attendees included issues of digital security and data management, which are becoming increasingly important as digitalisation spreads. The attendees also enquired about the level of advancement of Asian cities regarding smart grids, as well as the methods that can be used to assess the satisfaction of customers. The panelists converged in identifying that the challenge smart grid cities are facing is to manage an increasingly complex network while keeping it secure and attractive to consumers.