Pertamina Keen on Optimizing Geothermal Utilization in Indonesia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-run energy company PT Pertamina (Persero) is keen on optimizing the utilization of geothermal as an important source of renewable energy in Indonesia.

With a total of 2,133 MW installed capacity, Indonesia has the second largest geothermal potential in the world after the United States.

“But only less than 10 percent of the reserves have been exploited, so there is a lot of potential to expand the capacity and the utilization of geothermal energy,” PT Pertamina Power Indonesia's CEO Dannif Danusaputro said, during a talk show at the Indonesia Pavilion on the sidelines of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday.

Based on the national landscape, Indonesia has quite dispersed locations of geothermal reserves, most of them are located in Sumatra (with 0.7 GW installed capacity out of the 9.1 GW potential); Java (1.3 GW installed capacity out of the 9.1 GW potential); and Bali (0.01 GW installed capacity out of the 1.7 GW potential), he said.

Considering the low exploitation of the reserve, Pertamina is eager to explore the huge potential of geothermal energy.

"This is also to help (the realization of) Indonesia energy mix, which is in line with the national energy strategy to increase NRE (new renewable energy) from the current level of less than 30 percent to (achieve the) target of 24 percent by 2030. And geothermal will be one of the key factors to it,” he emphasized.

As one of the sources of renewable energy, geothermal is known to be the only baseload and not intermittent energy source.

With an average availability factor of 90 percent and a capacity factor of 70 percent, geothermal can be a stable energy supply that is not disturbed by natural factors such as weather.

Geothermal also less costly compared to other NRE sources. It is 20-40 percent more effective compared to other NREs, especially with the need for storage, which is required for solar power or wind power for intermittent NRE technology.

In order to optimizing the utilization of geothermal energy, Pertamina is currently consolidating geothermal assets owned by other state-firms and government entities to develop geothermal business.

The geothermal business integration is expected to be one of the catalysts for realizing geothermal as a green innovation engine in Indonesia, which can contribute to the achievement of the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitment as well as a green baseload that can replace fossil generators.

It can also help accelerate the geothermal development with additional installed capacity of 1.2 GW until 2030 and support the achievement of the long-term electricity procurement plan (RUPTL) as well as the national general energy planning (RUEN) targets.

"We believe this will benefit not only to us as a business player but also for the contribution for Indonesia’s NDC commitment. Indonesia does matter in this global de-carbonization and geothermal is one of the key renewable energy sources,” Danusaputro remarked.

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ANTARA