Indonesia to assign four geothermal work areas directly to PGE and GeoDipa Energi

As reported locally today, the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said the direct assignment mechanism to work on four geothermal work areas (WKP) would be faster than having to conduct an auction.

The four Geothermal Working Areas (WKP) projects, namely WKP Sembalun with a capacity of 100 MW in West Nusa Tenggara, Telaga Ranu 85 MW in North Maluku, Gunung Galunggung 160 MW in West Java, and Gunung Wilis 50 MW in East Java.

The four WKPs are working areas that are now ready to be developed.

Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, FX Sutijastoto, said that because the process was faster, his party chose to assign assignments directly to BUMN and its subsidiaries rather than conducting auctions. As for PT PLN (Persero), PT Pertamina Geothermal Energi (PGE), and PT Geo Dipa Energi who will be tasked with taking the initiative to conduct a management study on the four WKPs.

Companies that get assignments can do a study on the four WKP and provide answers if interested in managing it.

He revealed that assignments could also be made directly to the private sector if they said they were interested in managing the WKP.

“It does not violate the rules, it is like that. If investors are interested in asking for assignments, that’s okay, which is faster,” he said, September 9, 2019.

He admitted that assignments were not always accepted. However, the mechanism will be an evaluation material for the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to add data if that is the reason.

In addition, the economic value of the project is also a consideration. “We target [giving answers] according to how many MW we add,” he said.

Source: Bisnis.com