Supreme resumes geothermal operations

PT Supreme Energy will be able to resume exploration activities in its geothermal field in Rajabasa Lampung, South Lampung after the company having finally succeeded to reconcile its differences with the local residents, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Monday.

The company?s president director Triharyo Indrawan said in Jakarta on Monday that the company had recently stopped its geothermal exploration activities after the local people staged protests against the company?s operations.

The locals opposed the company?s presence because its activities would damage the local forests and will bring negative impact to the environment. Triharyo said that after negotiations, the local residents understood that the company?s geothermal exploration would not damage the environment like coal mines as they feared earlier.

He said that the company also agreed to replace two fold for the forest areas used for the company?s geothermal operation. ?If we use 15 hectares of forest areas, we will replace them with 30 hectares in other location,? he added.

Supreme will use about 70 hectares of forest areas in Rajabasa to carry out geothermal exploration and production activities to support the company?s plan to build a geothermal power plant with capacity of 2 x 110 megawatt in the area.

The company will sell the power supply to state owned electricity company PLN at 0.95 US cent per kWh. (*)