PLN given opportunity to enter geothermal sector

By Firmansyah Sembiring

Petromindo|Thomas

The government has given opportunity for state-owned electricity company PT PLN to manage geothermal working areas as part of efforts to help accelerate the development of geothermal power plants in the country.

This was said by Tumiran, a member of the National Energy Council (DEN), in a statement issued following the council?s annual meeting on Monday. He said that PLN can make direct request to the government to manage a particular geothermal working area without having to go through the traditional tender process.

Tumiran said that the entry of PLN into the geothermal sector would help the government in meeting the target for renewables to account for 23 percent of the country?s energy mix in 2025, of which geothermal is targeted to contribute 9,500 MW.

He added that while the government in the past used to assign state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to develop geothermal working areas, the entry of PLN into the sector should help improve competitiveness in the production of geothermal electricity.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak