Has A Potential Of 23,742 MW, Bahlil Affirms Indonesia Is Ready To Become The World's Largest Geothermal Producer

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia (Photo: Doc. VOI)

JAKARTA - Indonesia has the potential for large geothermal resources, reaching 23,742 Megawatts (MW). Of that number, there is still a great opportunity for geothermal development in Indonesia. Currently, Indonesia occupies the number two position as a global producer of geothermal electricity.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia said, with an installed capacity of 2,744 Megawatts (MW) of geothermal sources, Indonesia's position is only below the United States which has 3,937 MW of electricity from geothermal.

"We know that geothermal is one of the new renewable energy sources, and Indonesia has a large enough reserves, the largest in the world. And from here, we can manage only about 10 percent. This means that there is still 90 percent of this potential," Bahlil said as quoted on Thursday, September 18.

Of the huge potential for geothermal in Indonesia, Bahlil asked to immediately conduct an auction for the Geothermal Working Area (WKP). This is in accordance with President Prabowo Subianto's direction to reform and accelerate regulations, in order to provide certainty and acceleration for geothermal business actors.

As a follow-up, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has simplified licensing and regulations, which are allegedly hampering investment, to accelerate geothermal utilization.

In 2024, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources launched a digital platform for geothermal management called Genesis. Starting this year, the WKP auction will be conducted through the Genesis platform.

"One of the things that investors don't like is complicated rules. The more complicated the rules are, the more disliked by investors. So our program one year ago was to cut down various regulatory stages that hinder the acceleration process in the geothermal sector. We cut everything," said Bahlil.

Not only that, through the 2025-2034 Electric Power Supply Business Plan (RUPTL), the Government will build 48,000 kilometers of circuits (kms), as a form of commitment to encouraging the development of new and renewable energy. So far, according to Bahlil, the transmission network that connects energy sources and electricity networks is still not sufficient.

"So this year, we, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, as a form of commitment and consequence in encouraging the development of new and renewable energy, we are compiling RUPTL in 2025 to 2035 of 48 thousand km of circuits. This is a form of demand from what we must do to accelerate," said Bahlil.