Increasing international interest in geothermal development in Indonesia

Increasing international interest in geothermal development in Indonesia

There is increasing foreign interest in investment into geothermal project
development in Indonesia, as reported by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral
Resources in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) in Indonesia is
reporting an increasing interest by foreign investors for the development of
geothermal projects in the country. This, so the Ministry, is shown by eight
auctions for Geothermal Working Areas opened this year, as reported by CNN
Indonesia.

Director of Geothermal, Directorate General of Renewable Energy and Energy
Conservation (EBTKE) Ministry of Energy, Yunus Saefulhak explained, the
companies with interest are are from China, the United States (US), Italy
and more. This, he added, is progress compared to the previous period, which
only saw PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) bidding for the working areas
auctioned.

"The auctions being prepared show that more companies than PGE are
interested. Where once only PGE was interested, there are now more
developers interested in bidding for geothermal working areas and the
development of projects."said Yunus this week.

He named geothermal companies like Hitay, originating from Turkey, which is
interested in participating in the auction WKP Mount Talang and an American
company, Ormat, which is participating in the process auction at WKP
Simbolon Samosir.

But there is interest beyond the development of new projects. Yunus calls
foreign companies are also of interest to complete stalled geothermal power
projects.

In addition, he said that the Chinese company, KS Orka Renewables Pte Ltd
has acquired 95 percent of geothermal power management Sukoria, East Nusa
Tenggara. According to him, this proves that the company intends to work on
geothermal power plant in Indonesia, having previously acquired 100 percent
ownership in Sorik Marapi geothermal power plant at the beginning of last
month.

"There is though not only KS Orka, but there are also other companies from
China that want to get into the management of the Cisolok geothermal power
plants," he said.

The government of Indonesia plans to auction eight Geothermal Working Areas
this year. So far two auctions for working areas have been concluded, the
working area of Lawu with capacity of 165 MW, which was won by PT Pertamina
(Persero) and the working area Way Ratai with a capacity of 55 MW, which was
won Consortium PT Optima Nusantara Energy and Enel Green Power SPA.

Meanwhile, two auctions have closed for Mount Talang-Bukit Kili (65 MW) and
Marana (36 MW), the following groups seem to have won those, a consortium
between PT Hitay Daya Energy and PT Pertamina and Dyfco Energy. There are
still the following auctions outstanding: Grahonyabu (110 MW), Galunggung
(110 MW), Mount Pandan (40 MW), Simbolon Samosir (110 MW), and Mount Ciremai
(110 MW).

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Ref:
http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/increasing-international-interest-in-geotherma
l-development-in-indonesia/

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com