The Government of Indonesia is making progress towards creating a policy environment that promotes the growth of the country’s installed geothermal power capacity. This was a key part of the message of Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia at the opening of the Indonesia International Geothermal Convention and Exhibition (IIGCE) held in Jakarta on 17-19 September 2025.
“We know that geothermal energy is a renewable energy source, and Indonesia has quite large reserves, the largest in the world. And of this, we can only manage approximately 10 percent. This means there is still 90% of this potential,” said the Minister.
Indonesia currently has an installed geothermal power generation capacity of 2,744 MWe, placing it securely at second rank worldwide. However, this is only about 10% of the geothermal potential of the country, which is estimated to be about 23,742 MWe. Given this large untapped potential, Bahlil called for an immediate auction of Geothermal Working Areas (WKP).
Starting this year, WKP auctions will be conducted through the Geothermal Energy Information System (GENESIS) platform, a digital platform for geothermal management. This is part of the efforts of the ESDM to simplify permitting and regulations with the aim of reducing the permit processing time from 18 months to only 5 days.
“One thing investors dislike is complicated regulations. The more complicated the regulations, the less they appeal to investors. Therefore, our program over the past year has been to cut various regulatory hurdles that hinder the acceleration of the geothermal sector. We’ve cut them all,” commented Bahlil.
The Indonesian Government has also committed to the building of 48,000 circuit kilometers of transmission network to help promote the new and renewable energy. This is part of the 2025-2034 Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL).
Several agreements were also signed at the IIGCE 2025 covering commercial cooperation between business entities, capacity building, technology development, and financing commitments with a capacity of 265 MW and a total investment of USD 1.5 billion (IDR 25 trillion).
Source: ESDM
