Government investment agency Pusat Investasi Pemerintah (PIP) has allocated around US$192 million for investment in the geothermal sector for the second semester this year, PIP chief Soritaon Siregar said.
“A total of US$132 million of the funds will be for exploitation activities and US$60 million for two projects now still under exploration,” he said in Banten on Saturday.
He said the investment for geothermal projects is indeed huge because the government is striving to increase electricity supply from renewable sources.
On the other hand, he said, the geothermal investment is also risky as only three out of ten explorations could be continued to an exploitation stage.
In view of that it is difficult to expect private parties to develop the business by themselves, he said.
“To reduce risks PIP is now setting up a team of the best consultants in the world hailing from Japan, Norway, Australia and the US,” he said.
They will be assigned to appoint technical, legal and financial consultants and supervisors to analyze the investment risks seen from various fields.
Regarding mini hydro-power projects (PLTMH) PIP meanwhile has allocated around Rp649 billion distributed to 29 applicants for investment loans, he said.
“All the applicants for the PLTMH projects are private because the value of the project is too small to be carried out a state-owned enterprise,” he said.
He said the PLTMH projects are located in Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi.
Besides geothermal and PLTMH projects PIP also plans on the second semester to purchase securities worth Rp1.5 trillion and carry out a public-private partnership project worth Rp100 billion.
Total funds provided for investment in the same year is Rp13.280 trillion.
