House set to draft geothermal bill
House set to draft geothermal bill
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives has formed a team to draft a bill
on geothermal energy as part of its efforts to boost the
development of energy resources, according to a leading
legislator.
Irwan Prayitno, the head of the House's Commission VIII for
energy, mineral resources, environment, science and technology,
said Thursday the House had taken an initiative to propose the
bill to the government because it deemed geothermal energy as a
sustainable alternative energy source that the country could
benefit from.
"We have a great reserve of geothermal resources which remain
largely untapped," he told reporters on the sidelines of the
fourth national meeting of the Indonesian Geothermal Association
(INAGA).
Irwan said that the team that is working on the geothermal
bill is comprised of three members of the House who are experts
on energy. One of them is Tunggul Sirait, a noted lecturer on
energy at the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology and
also a member of the Love the Nation Party (PDKB).
There is no deadline for the team to finalize the draft, he
said.
Irwan noted that Indonesia needed a maximum strategy to boost
geothermal energy development as an alternative energy.
Geothermal resources were, in the past, put under the
supervision of state-owned oil company Pertamina, but the
government transferred the supervisory rights to the regions in
May 2000.
Thus far, there is no law regulating the energy source.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Sources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, in
his written speech read out during the gathering, stated that a
law on geothermal energy was needed in order to boost the
development of the energy source.
The government will also withdraw its involvement in
geothermal business to allow for fair competition in the
industry, he said.
A number of geothermal power plant projects had been shelved
since the 1997 economic crisis because they are expensive. The
government is unable to finance projects that require foreign
currency.
Prior to the crisis, there were 22 geothermal power projects
approved by the government, but most of the projects had been
delayed or shelved by the government in 1997 as part of the
retrenchment efforts to cope with the economic crisis.
According to INAGA, Indonesia, potentially, has one of the
world's largest supplies of geothermal resources. There are more
than 244 geothermal energy fields across the nation with a
potential power generation capacity of 20,000 MW.
All the resources are, however, located in remote areas, where
modern infrastructure is almost non-existent. That is why the
development of geothermal resources is expensive and the price
for power from geothermal steam is more expensive than that of
other energy sources.
Currently, Indonesia has a number of geothermal power plants
with a combined capacity of 747.5 MW. The power plants are
located in Kamojang, Salak, Darajat and Wayang Windu, in West
Java; Lahendong in North Sulawesi and Sibayak in North Sumatra.
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives has formed a team to draft a bill
on geothermal energy as part of its efforts to boost the
development of energy resources, according to a leading
legislator.
Irwan Prayitno, the head of the House's Commission VIII for
energy, mineral resources, environment, science and technology,
said Thursday the House had taken an initiative to propose the
bill to the government because it deemed geothermal energy as a
sustainable alternative energy source that the country could
benefit from.
"We have a great reserve of geothermal resources which remain
largely untapped," he told reporters on the sidelines of the
fourth national meeting of the Indonesian Geothermal Association
(INAGA).
Irwan said that the team that is working on the geothermal
bill is comprised of three members of the House who are experts
on energy. One of them is Tunggul Sirait, a noted lecturer on
energy at the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology and
also a member of the Love the Nation Party (PDKB).
There is no deadline for the team to finalize the draft, he
said.
Irwan noted that Indonesia needed a maximum strategy to boost
geothermal energy development as an alternative energy.
Geothermal resources were, in the past, put under the
supervision of state-owned oil company Pertamina, but the
government transferred the supervisory rights to the regions in
May 2000.
Thus far, there is no law regulating the energy source.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Sources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, in
his written speech read out during the gathering, stated that a
law on geothermal energy was needed in order to boost the
development of the energy source.
The government will also withdraw its involvement in
geothermal business to allow for fair competition in the
industry, he said.
A number of geothermal power plant projects had been shelved
since the 1997 economic crisis because they are expensive. The
government is unable to finance projects that require foreign
currency.
Prior to the crisis, there were 22 geothermal power projects
approved by the government, but most of the projects had been
delayed or shelved by the government in 1997 as part of the
retrenchment efforts to cope with the economic crisis.
According to INAGA, Indonesia, potentially, has one of the
world's largest supplies of geothermal resources. There are more
than 244 geothermal energy fields across the nation with a
potential power generation capacity of 20,000 MW.
All the resources are, however, located in remote areas, where
modern infrastructure is almost non-existent. That is why the
development of geothermal resources is expensive and the price
for power from geothermal steam is more expensive than that of
other energy sources.
Currently, Indonesia has a number of geothermal power plants
with a combined capacity of 747.5 MW. The power plants are
located in Kamojang, Salak, Darajat and Wayang Windu, in West
Java; Lahendong in North Sulawesi and Sibayak in North Sumatra.