PGE to spend $4 billion for geothermal development
Monday, April 23 2012 - 01:09 AM WIB
The company?s President Director Slamet Riadhy said that in order to meet the target, the company had allocated between US$3.6 billion and $4 billion to finance new investment in geothermal projects.
He hoped the government would support the development of geothermal energy by providing more conducive climate so that it would reduce dependence on oil.
He also noted that buying price of geothermal energy by state electricity company PLN of 3 US cent per KwH, was still too low given the large investments needed in the development of geothermal power plants.
Slamet said the price of electricity supply from geothermal power plants should be also regulated based on the regions where the projects are located. ?We heard the government will issue a new regulation on geothermal energy. We hope it will be able to support geothermal energy development,? he added.
He said that the new regulation should for example enable to speed up the process for the issuance of a permit for geothermal field development. ?The government also needs to remove import duties for all equipment for construction of geothermal power plants,? he added.
Indonesia has geothermal power supply of 1,214 MW at present. Chevron produces 635 MW, PGE 292 MW, Star Energy 227 MW, and Geodipa the remaining 60 MW.(*)