Govt to issue warnings to geothermal contractors

By Bernard Loebs

The government will send letters of warning to the investors who have received geothermal contracts but fail to meet their exploration commitment.

Yunus Saefulhak, Director of Geothermal at the directorate general of new, renewable energy and energy conservation (EBTKE), said the local governments have been allowed to sign geothermal contracts with investors. Over the past five years, a total of 19 geothermal contracts have been signed by the regional governments, 11 of which have yet to carry out any activities until now.

Under the existing regulations, the investors are given an exploration period five years which can be extended twice, one year each, meaning they have a total of seven years of exploration period. If they don?t carry out exploration activities during the seven-year exploration period, the ministry will send letters of warning twice and even terminate the contracts if they keep doing nothing, Yunus said.

He said the main problem faced by the investors is the lack of funds.

He noted however that eight of the 19 geothermal investors have carried out activities such as building roads, worker lodgings and well pads for drilling. There are firms which have started drilling. They include Surpeme Energy in Rantau Dadap, Muara Laboh and Jabar-Rekind in Cisolok Sukarame.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon