About SATREPS Project

The SATREPS (Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) program is a Japanese government program that promotes international joint research. The program is structured as a collaboration between the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), which provides competitive research funds for science and technology projects, and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), which provides competitive research funds for medical research and development, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which provides development assistance (ODA). Based on the needs of developing countries, the program aims to address global issues*1 and lead to research outcomes of practical benefit to both local and global society*2.

*1 Global issues: Issues that are difficult to resolve by a single country or region acting on its own and that need to be handled by international community as a whole.

*2 utilization of research outcomes: The research projects should lead to future social and economic benefits, achieved by using newly obtained knowledge and technology to enhance government services or to develop products that can be deployed in the market.

Find out even more about SATREPS here.

Project for Technology Development of Steam-spot Detection and Sustainable Resource Use for Large Enhancement of Geothermal Power Generation in Indonesia, Beneficial and Advanced Geothermal Use System (BAGUS)

Project for Technology Development of Steam-spot Detection and Sustainable Resource Use for Large Enhancement of Geothermal Power Generation in Indonesia, Beneficial and Advanced Geothermal Use System (BAGUS) is a joint research project between ITB and Kyoto University under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) program aiming at:

Accurately specifying spots suitable for power generation and promoting use of geothermal resources
Indonesia is a volcanic country with one of the world's greatest potentials for geothermal power generation. From criteria of power output and temporal stability, geothermal is the most promising renewable energy, and Indonesia plans to greatly increase its geothermal power output. This increase necessarily involves many deep drilling operations in order to identify spots suitable for geothermal power generation, which requires a tremendous expense. This project aims to reduce the initial costs and raise the identification success rate by integrating several methods that do not require deep drilling, such as satellite remote sensing and geomorphological analysis. The outcome is expected to promote the use of geothermal resources.

*Remote sensing: A method of obtaining data by remotely photographing or measuring the Earth's surface using sensors on board satellites or aircraft.

Promoting use of geothermal resources and reducing dependency on fossil fuels
Utilization of geothermal resources is expected to increase dramatically if the initial costs of geothermal power generation are reduced. The technology developed by this project will be applicable to countries located in volcanic zones and will potentially lead such countries to shift their main electric power source from fossil fuels to geothermal energy. As a result, the project will contribute to low-carbon and sustainable society development.