The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will auction 3 Geothermal Work Units

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) revealed that it would auction three geothermal working areas (WKP). For information, one of them is a WKP that was previously managed by PT PLN (Persero) but the permit has been revoked by the government, namely the Gunung Ungaran WKP with a capacity of 55 MW in Central Java.

Director General of New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Eniya Listiani Dewi, said that in fact two of the three WKP were WKP planned to be auctioned in 2025.

"This is the next 2 more WKP yes. Because last year it should have been the end of the year for 3. But the documents are many. It turns out that it has to be back to January. January will be the auction 2," Eniya told the media at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Friday, January 9.

Previously, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) planned to auction three Geothermal Working Areas (WKP) and seven Preliminary Survey and Exploration Assignments (PSPE) in 2025.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Bahlil Lahadalia, said that the entire auction process would be carried out openly and in accordance with President Prabowo Subianto's instructions.

Indonesia has a large geothermal resource potential, reaching 23,742 Megawatts (MW). Of that amount, there is still a large opportunity for geothermal development in Indonesia.

Currently, Indonesia ranks second as a geothermal electricity producer globally. With a total installed capacity of 2,744 megawatts (MW) from geothermal sources, Indonesia's position is only below the United States which has 3,937 MW of geothermal electricity.

"We know that geothermal is one of the renewable energy sources, and Indonesia has a large reserve, the largest in the world. And from here, only about 10 percent can be managed. This means that there is still 90 percent of this potential," said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia at the Opening of the Indonesia International Geothermal Convention & Exhibition (IIGCE) 2025 in Jakarta, Wednesday, September 17.

As a follow-up, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has simplified licensing and regulations, which are suspected to hinder investment, to accelerate the utilization of geothermal energy. In 2024, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had launched a digital platform for geothermal management called Genesis. Starting this year, the WKP auction is carried out through the Genesis platform. (DKD)

"One of the things investors don't like is complicated rules. The more complicated the rules, the less investors like it. So our program a year ago was to cut down on the various stages of regulation that hinder the acceleration process in the field of geothermal. We cut everything," said Bahlil.