Indonesia: Government Wants 7,200 Megawatts of Geothermal Energy by 2025

Indonesia struggles to tap volcano power (The Manila Times)

(Courtesy CIA.gov)

The Indonesian government is aiming to increase Indonesia’s geothermal generating capacity to around 7,200 megawatts by 2025, as part of a broader plan to boost the renewables sector, which would likely make it the world’s top producer of the power source.

A major part of the drive is a law passed two years ago that means geothermal exploration is no longer considered mining activity, as it was previously.

The old definition had held up the industry as mining cannot be carried out in the country’s vast tracts of protected forests, believed to contain about two-thirds of Indonesia’s geothermal reserves.

The government is also seeking to sweeten local administrations — which had sometimes resisted the construction of the steam-belching facilities — by offering them up to one percent of revenue from any geothermal plant in their area.

Abadi Poernomo, chief of the Indonesian Geothermal Association, which represents companies involved in the sector, is upbeat about future prospects: “A lot of investors from abroad are coming to Indonesia with the intent to develop geothermal”.

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