TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is planning to boost new and renewable energy by providing a number of incentives, including increasing purchasing prices of electricity generated by renewable energy power plants.

"Increasing the portion of energy alternative is no longer a dream, provided that we don't have personal interest in it," Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said said on Thursday, July 30, 2015.

Rida Mulyana, the director general for new and renewable energy, said that the move was aimed at boosting renewable energy portion by 25 percent as a part of the 35,000 megawatts electricity project.

The Ministry has taken an initial effort by revising the purchasing prices of electricity generated by micro-hydro power plants to 12 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) as stated in the Ministry’s regulation No. 19/2015. Earlier, the price was set at Rp 656.

The Ministry has also set the purchasing price for electricity generated by geothermal power plant at US 13-14 cents per kWH. Not long after the regulation was passed, Turkish investors expressed an interest in developing the sector.

Rida added that his institution was revising the purchasing price of electricity generated by biomass and waste-to-energy power plants.

"The purchasing prices will be set above two digits [in US cent]. Hopefully, the revision will be issued soon," Rida said.

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