Jakarta
(ANTARA News) - The Ministry of State Owned Enterprises plans to build a solar
cell company in Karawang, West Java, in response to the growing suggestions
that Indonesia should use more renewable energy and reduce its dependency on
fossil fuel, a minister said.
 |
| Dahlan Iskan. (ANTARA /Rosa Panggabean) |
"The
company will produce a capacity of 60 megawatts per year, and the government
has planned to invest Rp500 billion. The company is expected to start
operations by November 2013," Minister of State Owned Enterprises Dahlan
Iskan said here on Monday.
Earlier,
Minister of Research and Technology Gusti Muhammad Hatta had said his ministry
was continuously studying the pattern of geothermal energy utilization in
Indonesia as part of the efforts to ready existing renewable energy sources for
tapping by 2025.
"My
ministry is continuously studying the utilization patterns since it has been
planned that in 2025 new renewable energy should be ready in large
amounts," he said.
Gusti added
that the National Energy Board (DEN) had predicted that the availability of
petroleum would deplete by 2020 so the preparation of renewable energy on a
large scale should be started early.
Oil may
still be available off the coast but it is deep inside the ocean and will
require the use of advance technology and high costs to obtain.
Therefore,
the renewable energy derived from various sources such as ocean currents, wind
and plants (bio-ethanol) must be reviewed for use, the minister explained.
"In
fact, in the near future we will be working on geothermal energy because we
(Indonesia, Red) has 44 percent of the world`s geothermal potential," he
noted.
The DEN
version guided by the blue print of National Energy Management 2004 mentions
that Indonesia`s energy source of fossil fuel, which is oil, will be exhausted
within 18 years, gas in 61 years, and coal in 147 years.
Currently
Indonesia needs as much as 1.5 percent of the world`s oil to reach 10.5 billion
tons.
Meanwhile,
Indonesia exports as much as 1.5 percent, which means that Indonesia`s ability
to produce oil takes care of 3 percent of the total oil consumption in the
world.
Earlier,
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik said that renewable energy
in Indonesia has not been fully utilized, especially the abundant solar energy.
"Solar
energy is currently used only for drying coffee and during the tourist season,
even though it can be utilized optimally," he said.
Jero noted
that energy sources of oil will be exhausted but according to the data from the
National Energy Board, renewable energy is currently only 5 percent of the
total energy used.
So the
government is working towards making sure that renewable energy reaches a
minimum of 25 percent of the total energy used in 2025.
According
to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, there are currently around 28
sources of geothermal energy with a potential of about 7,000 megawatts that
have been licensed for exploration by the Forestry Ministry.
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