Indonesian-US cooperation on geothermal development
Lahendong Unit 2 plant Sulawesi, Indonesia (source: aecom.com)
Alexander Richter
14 Nov 2010
Boosted by this week's visit by President Obama to Indonesia, the country expects further cooperation with the US on development of geothermal projects, which could help attract the necessary financing through better credit ratings.
In news from Indonesia, it is reported that the country’s “government is preparing a clean energy and geothermal energy scheme in cooperation with the US government. This is a follow-up on the bilateral agreements mentioned by US President Barack Obama in his speech this week.
The Director General of New and Renewable Energy, Luluk Sumiarso, said that technically, his department is ready even before Obama’s arrival in Indonesia. Indonesia has received assistance from USAID in developing clean energy, coordinated by the Coordinating Department of People’s Welfare. But Luluk could not mention the amount of the aid.
But the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources is still waiting for the Foreign Ministry’s guidance as the main coordinator. “What are the substances, how do we follow up on them?. There should be technical procedures,” he said.
Mochamad Harun, Pertamina vice-president for corporate communications, feels that Obama’s offer could be seen as a boost of confidence investment in for geothermal energy. With the agreement, Pertamina expects the US to reduce the credit rating applicable to current and future Indonesia’s geothermal development projects.
Pertamina currently has 15 geothermal work areas, two of them are joint-ventures with US company, Chevron. “The cooperations with Chevron are in Darajat and Mount Salak,” he said. From those areas, Pertamina has produced 272 MW of energy.”
Source: Tempo Interactive
