PGE Becomes Parent Of Geothermal SOE And Gets Support From DPR Members From The PKB Party Faction

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) supports the acceleration of PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) to become a state-owned holding company engaged in geothermal energy.

Chairman of Commission VI DPR RI Faisol Riza said the key to the success of geothermal development is the ability to explore upstream because geothermal has the same character as oil and natural gas.

"The capabilities and characteristics are the same as those of Pertamina as the parent company of PGE. Therefore, PGE is very worthy of being the holding company for the Geothermal SOE, we are very supportive", said Faisol Riza, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, July 28.

In Faisol's analysis, PGE has a positive track record and has nearly 50 years of experience in managing geothermal. According to him, PGE is able to lead the consolidation of assets from other SOEs that are also working on renewable energy, namely PT PLN Gas and Geothermal and PT Indonesia Power.

"PGE has almost 50 years of experience in geothermal management. Moreover, currently, the total installed geothermal capacity in PGE's work area is 1.877 megawatts or about 88 percent of the total installed geothermal capacity in Indonesia", said Faisol.

He further revealed that PGE has become a pioneer in geothermal management in Indonesia. Since 1974, the state-owned company has been conducting geothermal exploitation from upstream to downstream.

Various upstream activities carried out by PGE include geological surveys, geophysical surveys, geochemical surveys, and drilling of exploration and development wells.

While downstream activities include exploitation and utilization, including the construction of steam fields, construction of geothermal power plants, and construction of transmission networks.

The DPR hopes that the potential and long experience will be PGE's provision in leading the consolidation of SOE geothermal assets properly so that it can increase the installed capacity of geothermal electricity from 1.2 gigawatts to 2.5 gigawatts in the next five years.

"The purpose of this process is to develop geothermal energy in Indonesia. We believe that as a consolidator, PGE can carry out this mission", said Faisol, a politician from PKB Party.