Pertamina prepares Rp 33t for geothermal electricity plants

JAKARTA – State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina says it has prepared Rp 33 trillion (US$2.5 billion) worth of financing for the development of geothermal electricity plants up to 2019.

Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto said the financing would be used to increase the installed capacity of geothermal electricity plants from 505 Megawatts (MW) to 907 MW by 2019.

“We have made geothermal development one of our strategic priorities and we have a blueprint of geothermal development up to 2019,” he said as quoted by Antara during the inauguration of Pertamina’s Kamojang Unit 5 geothermal electricity plant, with a capacity of 35 MW, by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in Garut, West Java, on Sunday.

Dwi said the 907 MW generated by geothermal power plants (PLTP) could reduce the use of oil by 43,000 barrels per day, adding that most of the geothermal projects would be managed by PT Pertamina Geothermal

“The projects could hopefully absorb around 7,000 workers during their realization,” he said. (ebf) – The Jakarta Post