The government plans to appoint a state-run energy firm to focus on geothermal development in a bid to meet the energy mix target, saying that the acquisition of Pertamina subsidiary Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) by state utility firm PLN would make this dream come true.
Although reluctant to call it an “acquisition”, the Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry’s deputy for energy, logistics, regional and tourism development, Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, said the synergy between PLN and state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina would increase efficiency and eliminate duplication of investment between state-run energy firms.
He said the synergy would allow PGE to speed up geothermal development to meet the 7.2-gigawatt (GW) target of installed electricity by 2025, or 23 percent of the total energy mix. Currently, installed capacity of geothermal power plants is only 1.5 GW.
