"We aim to become a world-class player in the geothermal sector. There is an opportunity for that ... since, so far, the geothermal potential utilized is still less than 10 percent of the total owned by Indonesia," said Oki Muraza, senior vice president of research technology and innovation at Pertamina.
He made the remarks during a discussion at the Indonesian Pavilion on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Tuesday (November 8, 2022).
Indonesia has nearly 24 gigawatts (GW) of geothermal potential, but less than 10 percent of it has been utilized, he noted. Therefore, Pertamina sees a great opportunity to further increase the capacity of geothermal utilization in the country to generate green electricity, he added.
Efforts to increase geothermal-based electricity capacity are aimed at supporting Indonesia's target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060 by increasing the use of renewable energy in the proportion of national electrical energy sources, he said.
For that reason, Pertamina has conducted a lot of research on the development of technological innovations for geothermal utilization, which have covered the fields of exploration, development, production-operation, and digitization.
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The state-owned energy company is currently developing better technology in the field of exploration, undertaking a comprehensive study of geoscience, and developing new methods that can be applied in the geothermal industry.
"This is something that we have been doing for years so that we technologically master it, starting from exploration, development, production, drilling, and so on," Muraza said.
Moreover, Pertamina will increase its geothermal capacity, which was recorded at 672 megawatts (MW) in 2020, to 1,128 MW by 2026.
The company is striving to achieve operational excellence in the upstream sector, integrate the development in new areas, and expand the value chain of products from geothermal energy, such as green energy products in the form of green methanol, green hydrogen, nano-silica, green liquid carbon dioxide, and carbon credits.
In addition, Pertamina is also supporting the development of green industrial clusters in the country.
"We hope to accelerate the development of new areas that can be used not only for electricity, but we are also starting to think about possible locations that can be developed for green hydrogen," Muraza informed.
He added that Pertamina is offering cooperation opportunities to players in the field of geothermal and energy efficiency in Indonesia for implementing technological solutions--developed by the company to build more geothermal power plants and other geothermal products--and optimizing the utilization of geothermal potential in the country.
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Reporter: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Editor: Suharto
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