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| (Courtesy CIA.gov) |
As the world’s most volcanically active country, Indonesia has been bestowed with unparalleled potential reserves of geothermal energy, which is renewable and produces almost no carbon emissions.
With the Indonesian government trying to fulfill surging energy demand while reducing carbon emissions, it is keen to accelerate the development of a raft of proposed geothermal power plants backed by local and international investors.
But, as with the other plentiful natural resources buried beneath Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, efforts at exploitation have often been stymied by the complex bureaucracy, unclear regulation and a lack of financing.
Industry executives and analysts say that the government must streamline its geothermal energy policy and clarify its pricing structure if it is to make progress toward its goal of increasing geothermal energy capacity to 5,000 MWe by 2014 from 1,200 MWe at present.
With the Indonesian government trying to fulfill surging energy demand while reducing carbon emissions, it is keen to accelerate the development of a raft of proposed geothermal power plants backed by local and international investors.
But, as with the other plentiful natural resources buried beneath Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, efforts at exploitation have often been stymied by the complex bureaucracy, unclear regulation and a lack of financing.
Industry executives and analysts say that the government must streamline its geothermal energy policy and clarify its pricing structure if it is to make progress toward its goal of increasing geothermal energy capacity to 5,000 MWe by 2014 from 1,200 MWe at present.
