Reaches 2,133 MW, Pertamina is Determined to Optimize Geothermal in Indonesia
Glasgow, 9 November 2021 – PT Pertamina (Persero) is determined to optimize the use of geothermal energy as an important key source of renewable energy in Indonesia.
With a total of 2,133 MW capacity installed, Indonesia is currently the second-largest country after the United State with geothermal potential in the world.
"However, the utilization of these resource reserves is less than 10 percent, so it has the potential to increase the capacity and utilization of the geothermal energy," said President Director of PT Pertamina Power Indonesia, Dannif Danusaputro, during a talk show at the Indonesian Pavilion on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). 26th in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday (8/11).
Based on the national landscape, Indonesia has quite dispersed geothermal reserves, but most of the demand is still in Sumatra (with an installed capacity of 0.7 GW of a potential 9.1 GW); Java (with an installed capacity of 1.3 GW of 9.1 potential); and Bali (with an installed capacity of 0.01 GW from a potential 1.7 GW), he said.
Given the very low utilization of reserves, Pertamina is determined to explore this huge opportunity to utilize geothermal energy.
"This is expected to realize Indonesia's new energy that is in line with the national energy strategy to increase NRE from its current level of below 30 percent to reach the target of 24 percent by 2030. And geothermal will be one of the key factors for that," he said.
As one of the renewable energy sources, geothermal is known as the only NRE that can be a base load and without intermittent.
With an average availability factor of 90 percent and a capacity of 70 percent, geothermal can be a stable energy supply that is not disturbed by natural factors such as weather.
Geothermal also has a competitive cost compared to other NRE sources. It is 20-40 percent more cost effective than other NREs, especially with the storage requirements needed for solar power or wind power for intermittent NRE technology.
In order to optimize geothermal utilization, Pertamina is currently consolidating geothermal assets belonging to other SOEs and government agencies to develop the geothermal business.
The integration of the geothermal business 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 NDC commitments as well as a green baseload that can replace fossil generators.
This can also help accelerate geothermal development with an additional 1.2 GW of installed capacity from the company until 2030 and support the achievement of the long-term electricity supply plan (RUPTL) and the national general energy planning target (RUEN).
“We believe this will be beneficial not only for us as a business but also for the contribution of Indonesia's NDC commitments. Indonesia plays an important role in this global decarbonization and geothermal is one of the main renewable energy sources that we need to continue to pursue and produce," said Danusaputro.**