PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), part of Pertamina Power & New Renewable Energy (PNRE) subholding, seeks to utilize geothermal energy beyond electricity needs, such as producing green hydrogen and green ammonia so as to produce cleaner energy. This utilization is referred to as direct utilization of geothermal energy among energy industry practitioners.
President Director of PGE Ahmad Yuniarto (AY) said that as a country with the second largest installed capacity of geothermal power plants after the United States, Indonesia had an installed capacity of about 10 percent of the existing geothermal energy potential, and this considered to be a huge potential in the future.
"We are now having an energy transition momentum that will make stakeholders support the development of new renewable energy, that is the environmentally friendly geothermal energy, as one of the important components in a sustainable new energy system," said AY at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) 2022 event held by the Singapore Energy Market Authority (EMA). PGE in the future will be the largest geothermal developer and will become a catalyst for decarbonization. PGE is preparing and creating greater value from geothermal, such as the development of green hydrogen and green ammonia,” said AY.
On a different occasion, PGE President Director Ahmad Yuniarto met with the Chief Executive of Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore, Ngiam Shih Chun, who was interested in conducting geothermal cooperation between PGE and Singapore.
“Singapore is planning to invest more in building new green energy. The current climate change presents new threats as well as opportunities regarding sustainability. We are interested in geothermal energy and put more effort into exploring the geothermal potential in Singapore,” said Ngiam Shih Chun.
According to Ahmad Yuniarto, in running its business, PGE continues to be committed to geothermal development and ensuring the implementation of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) to become an integrated part of PGE's geothermal business. The implementation of these ESG aspects is an effort to provide added value and support the government programs related to the use of new, renewable energy that is environmentally friendly, especially the geothermal energy.
PGE's commitment to developing geothermal energy can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of Goal 7 (Clean and Affordable Energy), Goal 12 (Responsible Construction and Production), Goal 13 (Climate Change Management), and Goal 15 (Land Ecosystem).
PGE currently manages 13 Geothermal Working Areas (WKP) with an installed capacity of +1.8GW, of which 672 MW is operated and managed directly by PGE and 1,205 MW is managed under a Joint Operation Contract scenario. Geothermal installed capacity in PGE's working areas contributes about 82% of the total installed geothermal capacity in Indonesia, with the potential to reduce CO2 emissions of around 9.7 million tons of CO2 per year.
