Indonesia's PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy Returns Gunung Lawu Geothermal Site to Government, an Industrial Info Market Brief

State-owned PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), the sub-holding of Power and New and Renewable Energy of PT Pertamina (Persero), will be returning the Gunung Lawu Geothermal Working Area back to the government. The plan comes as permits for development from the local government have not been obtained.

Ernie D. Ginting, Director of Strategic Planning and Business Development for PT Pertamina Power Indonesia, said that geothermal has great potential to be developed, but non-technical problems became an obstacle. One non-technical problem is that a steam resources location is in a cultural heritage area, causing difficulty obtaining an exploration permit in the past four years.

The intention of returning the Guning Lawu Geothermal Working Area is to allow the government to reconduct and review the project, as to not impose on a cultural heritage area. In exchange, the government will ask the Geological Agency to study other prospective areas to be offered to business entities.