Vice President Boediono has called on all provincial governors to smooth licensing for development of geothermal power plants in their regions which need to be promoted as sources of green energy.
“Geothermal energy is a green energy that needs to be promoted,” his spokesman, Yopie Hidayat, said quoting the vice president here on Monday after a meeting on geothermal energy led by the vice president.
The development of geothermal energy for use by the people will help improve economic activities in the regions, he said.
Yopie said a government regulation to that effect would be finished in 2010 and the ministerial regulation by January 2011.
“If all the regulations have been readied the implementation will be in the hand of provincial governors as project officers,” he said.
Indonesia plans to reduce in stages its dependency on fossil-based energy sources and turn to geothermal energy sources.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the World Geothermal Congress in Bali last April said Indonesia at present has only exploited around 4.2 percent of the country’s national geothermal energy reserves or 1,100 megawatts.
Indonesia has 40 percent of the world’s geothermal energy potential, making it the world’s biggest geothermal energy source.
Indonesia has been left behind by the US, which has developed up to 4,000 megawatts of geothermal energy, and the Philippines, which has developed up to around 2,000 megawatts.
In view of this, Indonesia has already mapped geothermal energy development projects and projected five percent of the national energy needs would be met by geothermal energy by 2025.
The government has also signed cooperation geothermal projects between PT PLN and Pertamina Geothermal Energy and delegated its authority in them to regional governments, as well as discussed geothermal project financing with the World Bank.
Total investments for the projects reach US$8.6 billion, producing 2,885 megawatts to meet the energy shortage of up to 4,500 megawatts in Indonesia.
The meeting was also attended by Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf and West Java governor Ahmad Heryawan.
