Geothermal Heat Offers More Than Electricity
Indonesia has substantial geothermal resources because of its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire. However, geothermal development has largely focused on electricity generation. The researchers note that direct use of geothermal heat could provide additional economic benefits for communities located near geothermal fields.
Direct geothermal use means applying heat without first converting it into electricity. Potential applications include hot-spring tourism, agricultural drying, greenhouse production, aquaculture, industrial heat, and other productive activities.
Muara Laboh is an important example because the area already supports geothermal electricity generation, while its surrounding economy includes agriculture, plantations, tourism, and community-based businesses. Yet the researchers found a gap between the availability of geothermal resources and their structured use for local economic development.
Study Examined Local Stakeholders
Ganefianto, Giriantari, and Dwijendra used a qualitative case-study approach to examine geothermal direct-use development in Muara Laboh and its surrounding socioeconomic area.
Fieldwork took place from June 15 to July 2, 2026. The researchers interviewed 11 informants, including a geothermal operator representative, local government officials, nagari or community representatives, business actors, and academics or experts.
The researchers also conducted field observations and reviewed academic literature, technical reports, spatial-planning documents, regional development plans, company documents, statistics, and relevant regulations.
Rather than using statistical analysis, the researchers compared information from different stakeholder groups and sources to identify recurring opportunities, barriers, and implementation requirements.
Tourism and Agricultural Drying Show Potential
The research found that existing direct geothermal use in Muara Laboh remains limited and fragmented.
Current activities are dominated by hot-spring bathing, recreation, and small-scale commerce. The researchers found no evidence that these activities were integrated with residual heat from the geothermal power plant through cascade utilization, in which heat is used for several purposes before being released or lost.
Hot-spring tourism already provides a local market. Interview-based estimates indicated gross annual receipts of approximately IDR 250 million to IDR 300 million for bathing businesses. However, the researchers emphasized that these figures were not verified against audited financial records and should therefore be regarded only as indicative.
Agricultural drying represents another potential application. Local stakeholders identified coffee, tea, and palm sugar as products that could potentially use geothermal heat during post-harvest processing.
Geothermal drying could reduce dependence on weather conditions, improve process control, and add value to agricultural products. However, technical and financial assessments are still required before investment decisions can be made. These assessments include geothermal temperature and flow, distance between the heat source and users, heat demand, equipment requirements, investment costs, and market conditions.
Agroindustry could also benefit from geothermal process heat, while aquaculture remains a conditional option. A previous fish-farming attempt associated with a hot-spring tourism site experienced repeated failures. The researchers caution that this does not prove geothermal aquaculture is impossible.
Instead, successful aquaculture would require testing water chemistry, temperature, dissolved minerals and gases, species suitability, and the design of a safe heat-exchange system.
Community Support Depends on Trust and Fair Benefits
The researchers found generally supportive community attitudes toward geothermal development during the fieldwork period. However, they describe this support as conditional rather than universal.
Community acceptance can be influenced by knowledge, perceived benefits and risks, trust, participation, communication, and fairness in benefit distribution. Previous concerns included environmental risks, land issues, limited understanding of geothermal technology, and comparisons with unrelated extractive-sector disasters.
According to Ghifari Ganefianto and colleagues at Udayana University, community participation should be incorporated into project design from the beginning rather than treated simply as a communication activity after technical decisions have already been made. Communities can potentially become users, operators, business partners, or parties affected by land and resource decisions.
Five Stages Proposed for Sustainable Development
The central contribution of the research is a five-stage conceptual model designed to guide geothermal direct-use development in Muara Laboh.
The researchers emphasize that the model is a decision framework, not a final engineering or investment assessment. Detailed resource measurements, laboratory analysis, engineering design, market studies, and financial modeling are still needed.
Potential Benefits for Local Development
The model connects geothermal development with the People, Planet, and Profit dimensions of the Triple Bottom Line.
For People, future projects could involve farmer groups, cooperatives, micro, small, and medium enterprises, and local workers. For Planet, geothermal heat could potentially improve energy efficiency and reduce conventional fuel use, although the current research did not quantify emissions or energy savings. For Profit, larger economic value could come from tourism, agricultural processing, agroindustry, and energy-cost savings.
The researchers recommend that South Solok establish cross-sector coordination, prepare investment-ready pre-feasibility packages, and begin with manageable pilot projects. Hot-spring tourism revitalization and agricultural drying are identified as possible early applications, subject to further assessment.
Author Profiles
Ghifari Ganefianto — Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia. Corresponding author of the article.
Ida Ayu Dwi Giriantari — Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia.
Ngakan Ketut Acwin Dwijendra — Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia.
The journal article does not provide the authors' academic degrees or specific fields of expertise. Therefore, those details are not added here.
.jpg)
0 Komentar