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PGE exploring geothermal development at Gunung Masigit area near Kamojang

PGE exploring geothermal development at Gunung Masigit area near Kamojang Garut, Indonesia (source: flickr/ Stefanie Weijsters, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 15 Nov 2018

Near its geothermal operations at Kamojang, Pertamina Geothermal Energy is eyeing the development of a geothermal project at Mount Masigit (Gunung Masigit) with an estimated potential of up to 70 MW.

PT Pertamina Geothermal Energi (PGE) is eyeing the Gunung Masigit hotspot in the Gunung Guntur area, Tarogong Kaler District, Garut Regency for geothermal development near its existing operations at Kamojang, West Java.

PT PGE’s Managing Director, Ali Mundakir, said that PGE is planning to expand the geothermal utilization area in the Garut region, including planning to manage the geothermal on Mount Masigit in the Guntur Mountain area. For this reason, PGE is taking care of changing zone status so that it enters WKP Kamojang Darajat.

“Guntur Masigit’s status is on conservation land. Therefore, environmental service management permits must change first from conservation forest to natural tourism parks,” Ali said, as released by Dunia Energi earlier this week.

According to data from the Garut Regency Government, the geothermal energy in Gunung Masigit has a potential of around 70 MW. The direct use of geothermal energy from this region has actually been done for a long time by the Garut Regency Government, in the form of managing Cipanas attractions that rely on natural hot water. This tourist attraction is now one of the icons of Garut Regency and become the main tourist destination in Garut Regency.

The location of Mount Masigit itself is around 6 to 9 km to the west of Cipanas tourist attraction.

Garut Regency Government is open to geothermal investment. As revealed by the Regent of Garut Rudy Gunawan during the Performance Achievement Socialization of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources 2018 in Kamojang in November this year, geothermal management is very beneficial for the community and the Garut Regency Government.

“Geothermal management can accelerate regional development,” Rudy Gunawan said at the time.

As reported, as a geothermal producing area, Garut has received a bonus of geothermal production for a long time. Regent Rudy said that the contribution of geothermal energy to Garut Regency from the Darajat area reached between Rp. 8 to Rp. 9 billion per year, from Kamojang PLTP to Rp. 1.2 billion per year and in 2018, Karaha’s contribution began.

He added, the Garut Regency Government has begun to receive geothermal production bonuses since 2006. Until 2018 now the total geothermal production bonus that has been received by the Garut Regency Government is through the regional treasury of Rp 275 billion ($18 million).

In addition to Mount Masigit, the potential for geothermal energy in Garut that has not been cultivated is in Cilayu, Cisewu District, which has the potential of 100 MW and Ciarinem, Pakenjeng District with a potential of 25 MW.

The three potential points have been proposed by PT Garut Energi to become one of the cultivation areas to be sought in 2014, which is now still in process at the Geothermal Directorate, Directorate General of EBTKE, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Source: PanasBumi News