House approves geothermal law

After months of deliberations, the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the Geothermal Law.

The law, which was proposed by the House, aims to attract investors into the country?s geothermal sector and to provide legal certainties to investors.

The House approved the law in a plenary session attended by among others director general of geology and mineral resources Wimpy S. Tjetjep and director general of electricity and energy development Luluk Sumiarso.

The law governs the exploration of geothermal steam and the use of the steam to generate power.

Geothermal reosurces were under the supervision of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina until May 2000, when the government issued a regulation transferring supervisory powers to the local governments.

Pertamina has awerded several contracts for foreign investors to develop the country?s geothermal resources but most of these were postponed in 1998 due to the economic crisis.

According to the government?s data, some 40 percent of the world?s geothermal resources are located in Indonesia, which could potentially produce some 20,000 Megawatts of electricity.

Now, Indonesia has a number of geothermal power plants with a combined capacity of about 750 MW. The plants are located in Kamojang, Salak, Darajat and Wayang Windu in West Java; Lahendong in North Sulawesi and Sibayak in North Sumatra. (Godang)