Govt to tender more geothermal block
Thursday, August 23 2007 - 01:14 AM WIB
The government will auction off one more geothermal block, bringing to six the number of geothermal blocks to be tendered in the near term.
“There will be one more geothermal block to be tendered, namely Cisolok-Cisukarame in West Java, with a power capacity of 45 megawatts (MW),” director for geothermal and ground water business development of the Directorate General of Mineral, Coal and Geothermal Resources at the Energy and Mineral Resources Sugiharto Harsoprayitno said in Jakarta Wednesday.
Earlier the government said it would tender five geothermal blocks, with a total power capacity of 455 MW. The five blocks are respectively located in Seulawah Agam, Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (with a capacity of 160 MW), Jailolo, North Maluku (75 MW), Telaga Ngebel, East Java (120 MW), Gunung Ungaran, East Java (50 MW), and Gunung Tampomas, West Java ( 50 MW.
Sugiharto said that it would take one month for the geothermal tariff team to complete the discussion on geothermal tariff issue now underway. The decision on the tariff would be regulated in a decree to be issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources, he said.
“The tender will be opened following the completion of the discussion on the geothermal tariff,” he said, adding that the tender would be implemented by local administration.
According to him, the geothermal blocks to be tendered were those previously owned by state oil and gas company PT Pertamina that have been handed over to the government.
He said that following the completion of the tender of the six geothermal blocks, the government will tender eight more geothermal blocks, namely Tangkuban Perahu, West Java, with a capacity of 220 MW, Atedei, East Nusa tenggara (NTT) (40 MW), Jaboi, Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (50 MW), Sekincau-Suoh, Lampung (around 264 MW and 238 MW), Marana, Central Sulawesi (40 MW), Suwawa, Gorontalo (65 MW), Songa Wayaua, North Maluku (140 MW), and Mataloko, NTT, (65 MW).
The government targets the use of geothermal as a source of energy to reach 2,000 MW in 2008, compared to only 852 MW at present. (Bernard)