Pertamina Invests US$ 12 Billion to Develop Geothermal Power Plants

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Pertamina Geothermal Energy, a subsidiary of state oil and gas firm Pertamina, is investing US$12 billion to build geothermal power plants with a combined capacity of 2,267 megawatts until 2025.

"Through Pertamina Geothermal Energy, we hope we could contribute about 31 percent to all geothermal power plants in 2025," Pertamina Vice President for Corporate Communication Wianda Pusponegoro said in a discussion on clean energy here on Tuesday.

Wianda stated that Pertamina Geothermal Energy was developing renewable energy to reduce the country's dependence on fossil energy in stages.

The company has completed 11 geothermal projects in six different places in Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi islands, he added.

He noted that gasoline consumption in 2025 was projected to soar 57 percent to 875 thousand barrels per day from 559 thousand barrels per day in 2015.

Diesel oil consumption in 2025 is also expected to jump 13 percent to 684 thousand barrels per day compared to 321 thousand barrels per day in 2015, he added.

With the construction of geothermal projects, the country can save 107.5 thousand barrels of fuel oil per day, he stated.

In addition, the geothermal power plants which have an installed capacity of 492 megawatts as of July 2016 will be able to meet electrical power demand from 984 thousand families and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6.4 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year, he remarked.

He said Indonesia holds 40 percent of the world's geothermal energy potentials, making it the world's third largest producer of geothermal energy. However, only 5 percent of the geothermal energy potentials have been utilized. (WDY)