Utilize Renewable Geothermal Energy for a Low-carbon Society

I already had strong links with Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in resources engineering and earth science, and four of the teaching staff at ITB gained their doctorates under me. The first collaborative research began in 2004 with a geostatistical assessment project of coal resources, and the relationship has grown since then, including collaboration in conference organization and jointly-authored papers. After hearing that a proposal from the same department as me in Kyoto University had been selected as a SATREPS project, this joint research project was planned and proposed, aiming to deepen a joint research on sustainable energy, and to boost the strength of research at ITB through an initiative taking a comprehensive approach to geothermal energy research.

When we started organizing the project, communication with the ITB side was almost completely based on email. But with email, it was difficult to discuss things in depth, and everything took a long time. Convinced that direct meetings were important for reaching a consensus, soon after provisional selection was announced, we invited the key ITB members to Kyoto University to discuss research objectives, content, schedule, equipment and software required, and the outcomes that we hoped to obtain. We conducted the discussion of these and other topics over two full days that were packed with meetings.
After that, we kept in close contact, giving full respect to each other's culture, including ensuring that schedules took the partner's regular events and customs into account. This approach ensured that the research proceeded on schedule, and was vital in ensuring that we were able to achieve the outcomes on time.

In addition to promoting geothermal energy production and fulfilling our mission of contributing to low carbon society, arranging for joint researchers from Indonesia and other countries to conduct research in collaboration with Japan is boosting networking between researchers and strengthening alliances. We hope to develop this project into world-leading research. The outcomes obtained by the SATREPS project will provide a foundation for extending both the research and research networks through initiatives such as the development of technology for exploring deeper parts of reservoirs to enable an increase in the generating capacity in districts that have already been explored. They also provide a foundation for further joint research with Egypt, Mozambique, and other countries.