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Not released permit delaying Baturraden, Banyumas project in Indonesia

Not released permit delaying Baturraden, Banyumas project in Indonesia Mount Slamet, Indonesia (source: flickr/ Bambang Suryobroto, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 20 Jan 2012

The delay in issuing an operating permit for the planned geothermal power plant project at Baturraden, Banyumas, will likely result in the delay of the project by three years. Initially it had been expected to produce electricity by 2014.

Reported from Indonesia, the delay in releasing the “operating permit for a geothermal power plant in Baturraden, Banyumas, by the Forestry Ministry”, will delay the the project until 2017. “The Rp7-trillion (US$760 million) project had been expected to produce electricity by 2014, but now will has now been delayed due to the permit.”

“The permit is still being processed,” Banyumas Energy and Mineral Resources Office chief, Anton Adi Wahyono, said yesterday.

Additionally, the project investor, PT Sejahtera Alam Energy (SAE), must replace the protected forest area that will be exploited. The project is estimated to require 50 hectares of land on the slopes of Mt. Slamet. Therefore, the company must restore 100 hectares of land.

PT SAE’s general manager Petto Rashito, said that he accepted the policy. “But it shouldn’t be delayed. The longer the permit takes to be issued the higher the investment,” he said, assuring that the project was safe despite the planned excavation on the active slopes
of Mt. Slamet. “There’s no difference in excavating an active mountain or a non-active one,” he said.

He also said that Indonesia had the biggest geothermal electricity potential in the world, totaling 30 gigawatts or 40 percent of total global potential. “However, only 1,189 MW has been utilized,” he said.”

Source: TempoInteractive