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Drilling at Gunung Karang geothermal project to start in October 2017

Drilling at Gunung Karang geothermal project to start in October 2017 Mount Gunung Lawu, Indonesia (source: flickr/ sakuntala_stei, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 14 Sep 2017

Sintesa Group is planning a start of drilling at its 110 MW Gunung Karang geothermal project in Banten, Indonesia.

Sintesa Group through its subsidiary PT Sintesa Banten Geothermal will start drilling for the Gunung Karang, Padegelang, Banten geothermal power project in Indonesia. This is despite Sintesa not yet having secured a partner to work on the project. The drilling process will begin in October 2017.

Shinta Kamdani, CEO of Sintesa Group , said the company decided to start the drilling process before partnering with strategic partners to leverage to negotiate with stronger partners. “In addition to this project is indeed pursued time, we do the drilling first and not wait for a partner,” said Shinta in an interview to local publication Kontan today.

There is a strong interest by investors for the geothermal project in Banten. But most of potential partners to the project do not want to enter until the project is further advanced. Therefore, Sintesa decided to take the risk on its own for the drilling process.

Seeking partners, Sintesa Group focuses on investors based on funding and technology. But the most important is the financial strength because the power plant project with a capacity of 110 MW requires a investment of $300 million.

In addition to initiating the drilling of PLTP Gunung Karang, Sintesa Group will also continue to look for other points of power plant development with a focus on renewable energy or renewable energy . Currently, Sintesa is looking at three development points of PLTP in eastern Indonesia, one of which is in North Sulawesi.

Source: Kontan