Government to tender 5 geothermal working areas
Friday, September 16 2016 - 12:53 AM WIB
The government plans to offer five geothermal working areas to investors via tender in the second-half of this year, after completing tender of three geothermal working areas in the first semester.
Yunus Saefulhak, Director of Geothermal at the Directorate General of New and Renewable Energy of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said on Thursday that the tender process of the five geothermal working areas is expected to be completed before the end of this year.
The five geothermal working areas which have the potential to produce a combined 550 MW of electricity include Gunung Ciremai (110 MW) in West Java, Gunung Geureudong (55MW) in Aceh, Simbolon Samosir (110 MW) in North Sumatra, Graho Nyabu (110 MW) in Jambi, and Gunung Wilis (20 MW) in East Java.
The government has earlier completed tender for three geothermal working areas including Way Ratai (55 MW), Gunung Lawu (165 MW) and Marana (20 MW). Gunung Lawu was won by state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, Way Ratai 55 MW by consortium of PT Optima Nusantara Energi and Enel Green Power SPA, while Marana failed to attract investor?s interest.
The geothermal working areas put on tender this year are part of the government?s target to offer a total of 21 geothermal working areas in 2016-2017 with combined potential power capacity of 1,065 MW and investment of US$4.2 billion.
Installed capacity from existing nine geothermal power plants in the country stand at only 1,403.5 MW, compared to the country?s total potential of 29,475.5 MW, comprising of 12,283 MW in resources, and 17,192 MW in the form of reserves.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak