With the advent of geothermal technologies on the rise, countries with huge geothermal potential have taken notice, one such country is Indonesia.
This potential comes from the country’s location in the ring of fire volcano line. Approximately 28.91 GW of geothermal energy potential is spread across 312 locations on several islands such as Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, Bali, Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi.
As a result of its volcanic geology, it is often reported that Indonesia has 40% of the world’s potential geothermal resources, estimated at 28,000 megawatts (MW). This would account for 5% of Indonesia’s total energy needs. Geothermal technologies currently make up less than 3% of Indonesia’s total electricity generation capacity, but they plan to increase geothermal energy capacity by 2025 as part of a plan to increase electrification in the country.
Indonesia is one of the world’s top three countries (USA, Indonesia, and Japan) with abundant geothermal resources, with a total energy potential of 29 GW estimated from 312 geothermal fields and 129 active volcanoes across the country. This rich resource has allowed geothermal technologies power generation to rapidly increase in Indonesia, and the installed capacity reached 2.1 GW in 2020, second worldwide after the USA.
The ReforMiner Institute, a Research Institute for Mining and Energy in Indonesia, assesses that geothermal energy sources have the most potential in pushing the government’s target for the energy transition in the next few years. Indonesia has set itself a zero-emissions target by 2060, the main effort being to stop the construction of coal steam power plants by 2025.
The fulfillment of this production is in line with the decline in electricity production from fossil generators which are targeted to be reduced by 14,897 GWh. Geothermal technologies have the potential to reach 29,544 MW or equivalent to 47.30% of the total generating capacity in Indonesia, which until December 2020 was recorded at 62,449 MW.
ReforMiner sees geothermal as an elementary part for the Indonesian government to reach energy transition targets. The government is also planning a carbon tax policy, Which will help with the country’s energy transition, especially for its electricity sector.
These numbers don’t lie and coupled with the groundbreaking advances being made by companies like Eavor technologies and their evolutionary closed-loop system, it’s no surprise that geothermal technologies and their applications are being sought after and applied the world over.
