Indonesia plans to tender 21 geothermal working areas 2016-2017
Well of Pertamina at Kamojang, Indonesia (source: ThinkGeoEnergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
18 Jan 2016
Indonesia's Energy Ministry is planning to auction 21 geothermal working to investors 2016-2017, with 8 areas in open auctions.
Indonesia Investments reports today that, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Indonesia plans to auction 21 geothermal working areas to investors.
Yunus Saifulhak, Chief of Geothermal Power at the Energy Ministry’s Directorate General, said the government had selected 26 geothermal working areas, with five have already been tendered last year. The remaining 21 blocks are set to be offered in 2016-2017. The Indonesian government is currently studying which blocks are ready to be tendered first.
The five blocks that were tendered last year are Kepahiang (Bengkulu), Marana (Central Sulawesi), Way Ratai (Lampung), Mount Lawu (Central/East Java) and Lake Ranau (Lampung/South Sumatra).
Saifulhak added that 16 blocks will be offered through an open auction, eight in 2016 and eight in 2017. For the remaining five geothermal blocks the government will select the operator (a state-owned company) through direct appointment. Most likely the government will appoint Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), subsidiary of energy company Pertamina, to operate these blocks.
Renewable energy is projected to account for 23 percent of Indonesia’s total primary energy by 2025 (from 5 percent currently). To accomplish this target the Indonesian government has high hopes for geothermal energy development. Indonesia is estimated to contain about 40 percent of the world’s geothermal reserves. However, most of these reserves remain untapped due to the lack of financial resources, the complicated investment climate (particularly when it involves natural resources), and uncompetitive power tariffs. Indonesia currently uses 1,439 MW of geothermal-derived power, less than five percent of the total potential (29,475 MW).
These geothermal power blocks are not part of the government’s recently unveiled program to provide an additional 35,000 MW of power capacity by 2019.
Source: Indonesia Investment
