TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
RI geothermal exploration stagnant: Committee
Change Size
Environmentally friendly -- The Dieng geothermal power plant in Central Java has become one of main sources of renewable energy in Indonesia. (Tempo/Aris Andrianto)
N
ational Exploration Committee head Andang Bachtiar said on Thursday that geothermal exploration and development had been running very slow.
Out of 12 geothermal exploration areas, he said, none of them had shown progress since 2000, except an exploration site managed by geothermal producer PT Supreme Energy in South Solok.
"Some essential problems haven't been solved. They include a lack of database resources, both quantity and quality data, and problems in tenders," Andang said at the fourth Indonesia International Geothermal Convention and Exhibition (IIGCE) at the Jakarta Convention Center on Thursday.
He further said electricity rates produced by geothermal power plants were not considered competitive. The development of a geothermal power plant, which was high risk and needed significant capital, was the main factor for why geothermal energy prices remained stubbornly high.
"In terms of business permits, most geothermal fields are located in forest areas and this leads to overlapping government regulations. The permit issuance needs to be simplified," said Andang, adding that geothermal developers also had to face fiscal and social issues during exploration.
To resolve the problems, he said, KEN had evaluated and proposed revisions of government, ministerial and local administration regulations that were counterproductive to the government’s prime mission to make geothermal energy the basis of national energy security.
"KEN has also encouraged the role of state-owned firms in conducting exploration and well drilling activities and pushed the government to optimize the use of its geothermal funds for those activities," he said. (ebf)
