Indonesian government sets up US$39m exploration risk fund
Wayang Windu Unit II, West Java, Indonesia (source: Aecom)
Alexander Richter
23 Feb 2011
Indonesia's Ministry for Energy and Mineral Resources sets aside US$39m to mitigate geothermal exploration risk, to help boosting investments in geothermal projects.
Reported today from Indonesia, the country’s “Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry announced that it would set aside Rp 350 billion (US$39 million) to compensate for failures in geothermal exploration in 2011, in an effort to boost investments in geothermal projects.
Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry expert Hadiyanto said Indonesia had 40 percent of the world’s geothermal reserves but that the development of geothermal projects was still far below expectations.
“So, this year the government has allocated Rp 350 billion to mitigate the risks from geothermal upstream operations,” he said.
Indonesia began developing geothermal electricity projects 30 years ago, but, as of Tuesday, only 1,189 megawatts or 4 percent of the total potential megawatts have been utilized, he said.”
Source: The Jakarta Post
