Flores Island declared as geothermal island

Petromindo|Lucky

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan had on June 19 issued Ministerial Decree No 2268 K/30/MEM/2017 declaring Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara Province as a geothermal island.

The ministry said in a statement obtained Wednesday that the objective is to optimize the utilization of the huge geothermal potential in Flores as a source of energy for power plants, which in turn will help increase electrification ratio in the eastern part of the country, and help attracts investment in various key economic sectors.

Director General of New and Renewable Energy at the ministry, Rida Mulyana said in the statement that Flores Island has geothermal potential of around 902 MW, or 65 percent of the geothermal potential in East Nusa Tenggara. The island?s geothermal potential is scattered in 16 location points including Waisano, Ulumbu, Wai Pesi, Gou-Inelika, Mengeruda, Mataloko, Komandaru, Ndetusoko, Sokoria, Jopu, lesugolo, Oka Ile Ange, Atedai, Bukapiting, Roma-Ujelewung and Oyang Barang. So far only geothermal potential in Ulumbu and Mataloko has been utilized as source of energy for power plants with combined installed capacity of 12.5 MW.

He said that by declaring Flores Island as geothermal island, it is targeted that geothermal will be the main source of energy to fulfill the island?s electricity baseload in 2025.

Director of Geothermal Yunus Saefulhak said that going forward, the government?s geothermal fund will be prioritized to finance detailed exploration of the geothermal potential on Flores Island.

Elsewhere, the statement said that the decision to declare Flores Island as geothermal island was made following the completion of Flores Island geothermal roadmap, a result of a 2015 MoU between the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and UK?s Energy and Climate Change Department. The roadmap was prepared by UK-based international consultant ARUP with assistance from the World Wide Fund.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak