The firm plans to double its geothermal capacity from around 700 MW atpresent, Pertamina chief executive Nicke Widyawati told media while visiting its Lahendong geothermalfields in North Sulawesi early this week. To accelerate development, it plansto build about 210 MW of its targeted additional capacity through investment ina Binary Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) plant which costs less and can bedeveloped quicker.
Pertamina is running a trial ofa 500 kW binary generator at its Lahendong field which was developed within ayear. The generator would be utilised at other fields, according to Nicke.
The government is keen to tap into its geothermal resources which have thepotential to generate more than 28 GW of power. Data from the energy ministry showsIndonesia has only reached 2.28 GW of installed capacity as of last year.
Developing geothermal energy ispart of the government's strategy to increase the proportion of renewables inthe country's energy mix to 23 percent by 2025 from around 12 percentcurrently.
Indonesia aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2060./.