House approves geothermal law
Wednesday, August 27 2014 - 12:49 AM WIB
The House of Representatives finally approved on Tuesday the country?s new geothermal law, which is expected to help accelerate new investment in the sector.
?This is an important milestone for the Indonesian energy sector,? commented Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik following the House plenary session held to approve the law.
Despite the country?s huge geothermal potential, its utilization as a source of energy remains low due to various obstacles.
The previous Law No 27/2003 on geothermal, for instance, classified geothermal development as mining activity, which is not allowed to take place in conservation forest areas, where most of the country?s geothermal resources are actually located. The new law does no longer classified geothermal development as mining activity.
The new law also transfers the authority in issuing permit for geothermal development to the central government from regional government, which hopefully would expedite permitting process.
Director General of New and Renewable Energy Rida Mulyana has said that of the country?s geothermal potential of about 29,000 MW, only about 6 percent has been tapped.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak