Pertamina Geothermal Energy – The Maverick

The Lumut Balai geothermal power plant of Pertamina Geothermal Energy.

Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) is a big and very active geothermal energy player in Indonesia. It is the operator of the first geothermal power plant in Indonesia – The Kamojang plant.

Engaging in thirteen geothermal work areas in Indonesia, PGE involves in the production of 1877 MW of geothermal power, 672 MW of which is under its operation and 1205 MW under the joint operation contracts.

PGE operates six of its solely owned geothermal plants and has interests in four other geothermal plants that are under a joint-operating contract scheme.

Pertamina Geothermal Energy has targets to increase its own power generation capacity from 672 MW to 1540 MW by 2030 contributing to reducing 9 million tons of CO2 emission annually.

As PGE aims to be a world-class green energy producer and to accelerate its ambitious geothermal expansion, it officially became a public company on 24 February 2023 following the completion of its initial public offering (IPO).

PGE booked a net profit of USD 127.3 million in 2022. This is an increase of almost 50% from its profit in 2021.

Part of the profit came from selling US$ 747,000 worth of carbon credits.

Currently, PGE is constructing its 55 MW Lumut Balai Unit 2 power plant which will come online by the end of 2024.

To further increase the installed capacity of its geothermal power, PGE plans to construct two 55 MW power stations in the Hulu Lais geothermal work area.

Current Projects of Pertamina Geothermal Energy

Here are its current projects:

• Constructing the Lumut Balai 55 MW Unit 2 power station. Pertamina Geothermal Energy has commissioned the Mitsubishi Power consortium to construct its second 55-MW power station in the Lumut Balai work area in South Sumatra. When completed, the Lumut Balai geothermal plant will have an installed capacity of 110 MW.

• Completing a small-scale 500 KW geothermal power plant in Lahendong. This will serve as a model for small geothermal power plants to be built in other parts of the country.

• Recently PGE signed an MOU with Ormat Technologies to conduct a joint study on developing power plants using binary technology. CEO of PGE, Ahmad Yuniarto said that the application of binary technology has the potential to increase its current already installed generation capacity by up to 210 MW.

• PGE is exploring a partnership with Chevron targeting the utilization of geothermal energy for other purposes including such as green hydrogen production, CO2 processing, and extraction of rare metals.

• Pertamina Geothermal Energy sets out to expand its Ulubelu geothermal power plant located in Lampung, Indonesia. It plans to drill six wells in 2023. Currently, the Ulubelu power plant consisting of four power stations have a combined installed capacity of 220 MW. Pertamina is the operator of two of the power units while PLN is the operator of the other two power units.

The six geothermal plants that PGE operates are:

  1. Kamojang in West Java – 235 MW
  2. Ulubelu in Lampung, South Sumatera – 220 MW
  3. Lahendong in North Sulawesi – 120 MW
  4. Lumut Balai Unit 1 in South Sumatera – 55 MW
  5. Karaha in West Java – 30 MW
  6. Sibayak in North Sumatera– 12 MW

The IPO of Pertamina Geothermal Energy

PGE officially became a public company on 24 February 2023 following the completion of its initial public offering (IPO).

The IPO of Pertamina Geothermal Energy is highly successful. It is oversubscribed 3.81 times. And this is significant!

Through the IPO, PGE offered to sell 25% of its shares, equivalent to 10.35 billion shares, at IDR 875 per share to the public.

Since the IPO is oversubscribed, PGE is successful in selling all the shares that it offered to sell.

This means PGE has successfully raised fresh funds worth IDR 9.056 trillion or 596 million USD.

The oversubscription shows there is huge interest from institutional investors in the business of clean energy and PGE.

One such company is MASDAR from UAE. Masdar is the biggest subscriber of PGE shares. Through the IPO it now owns 15% of the total PGE shares.

Masdar is one of the world’s largest clean energy producers with projects located in 40 countries. By investing in PGE, Masdar plans to further expand its interest in clean energy development in the Asia Pacific.

With its successful IPO and its new partner Masdar, PGE is set to expand its business in developing geothermal resources in Indonesia and beyond.

Jamin Djuang – Chief Learning officer of LDI Training

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