Energy Minister Launches Cisolok Geothermal Spud-in

MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

PRESS RELEASE

NUMBER: 308.Pers/04/SJI/2021

Date: 3 September 2021

Energy Minister Launches Cisolok Geothermal Spud-in

Today is an important moment in Indonesia's geothermal development because for the first time, the government, through the Ministry of EMR, conducts deep slim-hole exploration drillling financed by the State Budget, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (EMR), Arifin Tasrif, has said when launching the Spud-in of Geothermal Slim Hole Drilling in Sukabumi, West Java, on Friday (3/9).

The government-backed geothermal exploration is aimed to produce data with higher accuracy. This way, upstream business risks will be reduced and electricity price lowered, making geothermal electricity more competitive in the future.

"The core of this activity is to identify existing geothermal resources in this location. The activity, which will take place for 1-2 months, will produce more accurate data, and naturally, this will attract investors," continued Arifin.

Arifin expected that more precise data would facilitate investors to make economic studies and decide more economic tariffs.

"Geothermal tariffs have been uncompetitive, because the drilling is costly, the exploration risks are high, and the electricity tariff is the highest among other sources of energy," explained Arifin.

The optimum use of geothermal energy source is in line with the global demand for more environmentally friendly sources of energy that do not emit carbon, which is why geothermal is one of the solutions.

"The current global demand is toward the use of clean energy to replace fossil energy sources, because fossil energy emits carbon that causes climate change and annual global temperature increase, leading to the melting of polar ice caps which can raise the sea levels," said Arifin.

Head of Geological Agency of Ministry of EMR, Eko Budi Lelono, said that the government geothermal drilling project aims to produce more accurate data with the ultimate goal of lowering the price of geothermal electricity so that it can compete with electricity generated by other sources of energy. However, the goal calls for a lengthy process, from data aquisition to geoscientific surveys including geological, geochemical, and geophysical study, to determination of prospect area.

"For Cisolok-Cisukarame area, the identified resource amounts to 45 MWe of possible reserve, so to prove this quantity, we need to explore down to the reservoir with the slim hole drilling," said Eko.

According to Eko, there will be 2 drilling locations, each is 2,000 meter deep. The slim hole drilling at the CKK-01 location will be carried out in 2021 while drilling at CKK-02 will be done in 2022.

Wellpad CKK-01 is located within the Mount Halimun-Salak National Park (TNGHS), and wellpad CKK-02 is in public area.

"Special for geothermal business, based on Law Number 21 of 2014, activities can be conducted within conservation area after obtaining the License to Use the Environment for Geothermal Business (IPJLPB); praise be to God, we had applied and obtained it from the Ministry for the Environment and Forestry. Meanwhile, for drilling in public area, we'll do it through land acquisition," continued Eko.

Eko hopes the drilling will bring about multiple effects to the surrounding communities, such as improved welfare, community empowerment, road access for public mobilization, and employment opportunities for the locals. (IY)

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