TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- Hitay Investment Holding, a Turkish company had expressed interest to invest in geothermal power plants in Indonesia, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said Thursday, July 30, 2015.

The company was reported to have lobbied the Coordinating Minister Coordinator of Maritime Affairs for the investment quota.

"But the Minister refused, because the regulation stated it must be auctioned,” said Rida Mulyana, the Director General of Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on Thursday.

Hitay now have got the green light to carry out pre-exploration surveys around West Sumatra and Bengkulu. The survey will be conducted at eight locations for one year period.

Later, the survey will produce estimates of geothermal reserves in those locations. Data from the survey results will belong to the government, and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will use it for the geothermal working areas open auction.

When the auction is officially opened, the Ministry promised Hitay to get a right to match or special privilege to win the tender compared to other applicants. “We have few geothermal players," said Rida.

According to Rida, Turkey investment plans was backed by the Indonesian government policy to raise purchasing rates for geothermal electricity.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has revised the electricity purchase price of Mini Hydro Power Plant to US$ 12 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) from Rp 656 only. The Ministry has also set a purchase price of electricity from geothermal power plants at US$ 13-14 cents per kWh.

Rida expect a rate increase will invite more investors to build geothermal power plants in Indonesia.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said from the 35 thousand megawatts of electricity capacity development plan, 25 percent must come from new and renewable energy.

ROBBY IRFANY