Indonesia:

Legal Protocols, Lack of Funding Stall Geothermal Development in Indonesia (Jakarta Globe)

Only 175 MW of geothermal energy were added between 2010 and 2014

(Courtesy CIA.gov)

Despite Indonesia already having several plants and government plans to develop the geothermal industry, progress has been stalled by legal protocols and a lack of funding, the World Bank says.

Indonesia’s position on the Pacific Ring of Fire – the intersection of three tectonic plates – means that the country is a hotbed of seismic activity. The Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry estimates that the country might have the potential to generate almost 28 gigawatts of energy this way – 40 percent of the world’s geothermal energy resources.

The recent Indonesian Economic Quarterly published by the World Bank in July highlighted geothermal energy production as an area of great potential. Despite a 2012 Finance Ministry fund to develop the geothermal energy sector and capital seeding of more than $200 million, the sector has not expanded as expected.

Plans to build 44 new plants and triple production capacity to 4000 MW were included in the National Energy Policy last year. However, only 175 megawatts were added between 2010 and 2014. The World Bank attributes this to several factors, including a hesitancy to invest, and a feed-in tariff that has discouraged the market.

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