Five companies have expressed interest in the auction of Lawu geothermal working areas in East Java, with a capacity of 165 megawatts (MW).
These five companies are PT Pertamina Geothermal Energi, Star Energy Geothermal Ltd., PT Ormat, PT Sari Prima Energi and PT Bumi Energy.
The companies have expressed seriousness to develop geothermal areas in two provinces of Central Java and East Java with total area of 60,030 hectares. These five companies have also paid a guarantee of IDR2 billion.
The auction guarantee fund of IDR2 billion each was needed to ensure the winning bidder is able to manage geothermal areas both financially and technically. Geothermal investment for 1 MW of power is estimated at US$5 million. Thus, the value of investments for Mount Lawu geothermal area reached US$825 million.