China axes 15 coal plants abroad after Xi pledge, but loopholes remain: study

Yahoo – AFP, April 22, 2022 

China has vowed to become carbon-neutral by 2060, but its emissions pledges do not
cover fossil-fuel investments abroad (AFP/JOHANNES EISELE) (JOHANNES EISELE) 

More than a dozen Chinese coal power projects overseas were cancelled after a ban last year on funding such plants, but loopholes could allow 18 others to still go ahead, according to a study published Friday. 

China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving global warming. It has vowed to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2060, but these do not include its fossil-fuel investments abroad. 

It is also the largest public funder of overseas coal plants, and was planning to build 67 in more than a dozen countries when President Xi Jinping announced a ban on financing "new projects" in September. 

Since then, Chinese developers have cancelled 15 overseas coal projects as funding dried up and host countries demanded greener alternatives, a study by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said. 

The cancelled projects would have generated 12.8 gigawatts of electricity -- or the total power generation capacity in Singapore, the think tank added. 

But a lack of clear rules has allowed Chinese developers to continue to build new coal power projects, it warned. 

"The key concern is that China will continue to fund or build new coal projects to power industrial parks under the Belt and Road Initiative," said Isabella Suarez, a researcher at CREA, referring to Xi's $1 trillion global infrastructure push. 

"The loophole is that because the industrial parks have been years in the making, additional coal on these projects would not be considered new, even if... tenders are happening after the pledge to ban coal funding." 

Deadly impact 

China's top economic planner issued vague guidelines in March, telling developers to "proceed cautiously" on coal plants that were in the final stages of planning. 

These could potentially stop Chinese funding for 32 planned coal plants and prompt the "reexamination" of 36 others that are under way, according to the CREA report. 

However, "about 18 coal projects (in the pipeline) that can generate 19.2 Gigawatts of power have already secured financing and permits... and could still go ahead," Suarez said. 

AFP has sought comment on the report from the National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planner. 

Most of these projects are in Indonesia, where China is investing billions to mine nickel and other minerals needed to build electric vehicles, according to data from the Global Energy Monitor. 

Vietnam and Bangladesh have in recent months requested China to build gas projects instead of the agreed coal projects, according to government notices. 

The deadly impact of climate change -- from extreme heatwaves to more intense superstorms -- is already being felt across the world. 

Experts say emissions must be halved within a decade to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit) or ideally to 1.5C as stated in the Paris climate accord. 

Asia must quit 'coal addiction': UN chief

Yahoo – AFP, Joe Freeman, November 2, 2019

Several Asian megacities are at risk of flooding linked to global
warming (AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA)

The UN chief on Saturday warned Asia to quit its "addiction" to coal, as climate change threatens hundreds of millions of people vulnerable to rising sea levels across the region.

The warning follows fresh research this week predicting that several Asian megacities, including Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai, are at risk of extreme flooding linked to global warming.

Antonio Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to tackle the climate crisis, which he called the "defining issue of our time".

"There is an addiction to coal that we need to overcome because it remains a major threat in relation to climate change," he told reporters ahead of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok on Saturday.

He said countries in the region need to be on "the front line" of the fight by introducing carbon pricing and reforming energy policies.

"We are lagging behind," he said, adding that the rollback of coal could help curb rising global temperatures.

Coal remains a major source of power across Southeast Asia, where breakneck economic development has spurred soaring energy demands -- but at a cost to the environment.

Antonio Guterres said Asian countries need to cut reliance on coal to
head off the climate crisis (AFP Photo/Joe Freeman)

About one-third of Vietnam's energy comes from coal power with a slew of new plants set to come online by 2050, while Thailand is investing in fossil fuels.

Coastal areas across Southeast Asia have already seen major floods and seawater incursion linked to climate change.

New research this week showed that at least 300 million people worldwide are living in places at risk of inundation by 2050, a much bleaker picture than previous data predicted.

Destructive storm surges fuelled by increasingly powerful cyclones and rising seas will hit Asia hardest, according to the study in the journal Nature Communications.

The UN chief also spoke on Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims, nearly three-quarters of a million of whom were driven into Bangladesh in 2017.

He urged Myanmar's government to "address the root causes of displacement and allowing of the return, voluntary and in safety and dignity" to Myanmar.

"Some steps have been done but they are too small. We need to do much more," he said.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Bangkok for the summit and is likely to face pressure over her country's treatment of the Rohingya, particularly from Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia.

Myanmar has rebuffed all international pressure so far while only hundreds of Rohingya have returned to Myanmar, due to fear of further repression.

Related Articles:

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Dutch inventors roll out river plastic clean-up barge

Yahoo – AFP, October 26, 2019

The model on display was the fourth to be built and is due to be sent to
the Dominican Republic (AFP Photo/Robin UTRECHT)

The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch non-profit group committed to ridding the world's waters of plastic, Saturday unveiled their latest invention, a floating garbage-collection barge called "The Interceptor".

It is built by The Ocean Cleanup, who say it will "close the tap" on the greatest source of garbage reaching the oceans: rivers.

The barge, which will be anchored in polluted rivers, is capable of scooping up to 50 tonnes of garbage per day floating downstream, said its inventor, 25-year-old Boyan Slat.

"Under the right conditions we think it could even achieve double that," said Slat, who is the CEO and founder of The Ocean Cleanup.

"The Interceptor" resembles a large houseboat attached to a curved barrier. It is 24 metres (78 feet) long, solar-driven, fully autonomous and able to collect plastic in rivers around the clock, Slat said.

Placed at strategic positions in a river system, its barrier directs plastic to the waiting "mouth" of the barge, from where it rolls up a conveyor belt and is dumped into one of six dumpsters.

The barge has a capacity to carry 50 cubic metres of waste plastic, the equivalent of 271,000 Rubik's cubes, said Slat.

Once full, an onboard computer sends a message to local operators to pull out the dumpsters and empty them "as easily as you would clean your vacuum," Slat said at the unveiling of the machine.

The project will tackle 1,000 of the most polluting rivers in the world "within five years", which contribute to 80 percent of global plastic pollution, he added.

Two of the machines are already up and running: one in Jakarta, Indonesia, and another in Malaysia. A third is being prepared for deployment in Vietnam.

Slat used a fourth Interceptor for the presentation in the port city of Rotterdam's harbour on Saturday. This one will be sent to the Dominican Republic, he said.

Earlier this month, The Ocean Cleanup announced that a special ship designed to clean the world's oceans had harvested its first plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The Interceptor at work in Malaysia. Photo: The Ocean CleanUp

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Boyan Slat launches new project to clean up plastic in rivers

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Ocean Cleanup move to the Pacific, ‘a milestone’ says Dutch inventor

Photo: The Ocean Cleanup

Restart of Notre-Dame restoration pushed back to August 19

Yahoo – AFP, August 9, 2019

Work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris has been halted since July 25 over
lead contamination risks (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Paris (AFP) - Renovation work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris could resume on August 19, a government official said Friday, after the clean-up was halted last month over fears that workers could be exposed to lead poisoning.

Testing revealed dangerously high levels of lead contamination at the site as well as at nearby schools and other buildings, prompting fears that workers and residents risked exposure to the toxic metal.

Hundreds of tonnes of lead in the roof and steeple melted during the April 15 blaze that nearly destroyed the gothic masterpiece, with winds spreading the particles well beyond the church's grounds.

But after weeks of denying any poisoning risks, authorities admitted in late July that anti-contamination measures were insufficient, and two schools near the church were closed after hazardous lead levels were detected.

A worker sprays a gel to absorb lead on the playground at a school on the Rue 

Saint Benoit, near Notre-Dame, on August 8 (AFP Photo/Martin BUREAU)

Since then officials have been racing to implement tougher safety measures for workers at the site, while deploying new methods to remove lead residue from school playgrounds.

Prefect Michel Cadot, the government's top official for the Paris region, will allow work to resume "once there is a guarantee the new measures are in place," his office said in a statement.

Officials had originally said the clean-up could begin next week, but the target date is now set for August 19, it said.

New techniques

This week workers dressed head-to-toe in white hazmat suits sprayed a blue-green gel onto the playground at the two closed schools on the Rue Saint-Benoit, where dozens of children had been attending summer daycare programmes.

Hundreds of tonnes of lead in the roof and steeple melted during the April 15 blaze 

that nearly destroyed the gothic masterpiece (AFP Photo/Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)

According to city officials, the gel attracted and trapped the lead particles on the ground as it dried, and was later removed with high-pressure hoses.

That procedure and others will also be used on the square in front of Notre-Dame and on streets in the immediately vicinity.

Readings of more than 70 microgrammes per square meter indicate potential health hazards, but testing has found much higher levels at buildings as far as one kilometre from Notre-Dame.

Last week, the city revealed that some schools and daycares beyond a 500-metre perimeter of the church still showed isolated readings of more than 1,000 microgrammes on playgrounds or windowsills.

The clean-up was halted last month over fears that workers could be exposed

to lead poisoning (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Critics have accused the city of failing to notify the public about the worrying results, while an environmental group has filed a lawsuit alleging that officials failed to sufficiently contain the contamination.

Others have urged authorities to cover the entire church with protective cladding to contain the particles, a system often used when removing asbestos.

City officials have rejected the proposal as too costly and complex.

But they have vowed that no schools will reopen in September unless the lead risk has been completely eradicate.

French workers began efforts to remove lead from the area around Notre-Dame cathedral which was contaminated by the devastating April fire, sparking public health concerns and forcing the suspension of restoration work https://t.co/HKQVPcMBLh

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 13 augustus 2019

ING, ABN Amro urged to pull out of controversial US pipeline project

DutchNews, November 28, 2016

Amsterdam’s Zuidas business
district. Photo: DutchNews.nl

Dutch banks ING and ABN Amro are being urged to end their investment in a controversial oil pipeline project in the US. 

The construction has prompted violent clashes between the army and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who say construction of the pipeline through northern Dakota could affect its drinking water supply and put communities ‘at risk of contamination by crude oil leaks and spills.’ 

They also say the pipeline will threaten the environment and destroy Native American burial sites, prayer sites and culturally significant artifacts, CNN reported. 

According to fair banking campaign group Eerlijke Bankwijzer, ING has pumped the equivalent of €233m into the project in direct loans. ABN Amro has lent $45m to companies which are involved with the project. 

ING said in a statement it is concerned about what is going on and is investigating further. However, withdrawing from the project is not an option legally, news agency ANP quotes the bank as saying. 

ABN Amro points out it is not one of the 17 banks actively funding the pipeline and says it is in ‘continuous contact’ with the companies it has backed. This includes ‘explicitly’ ensuring that its concerns about the project are known, ANP said. 

Native Americans ride with raised fists to a sacred burial ground that was

disturbed by bulldozers building the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL),

September 4, 2016 near Cannon Ball, North Dakota (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)

Related Article:

Violence erupts as Native Americans resist oil pipeline

US seeks halt to work on pipeline opposed by Native Americans

US judge won't halt pipeline opposed by Native Americans

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe confront bulldozers working on the

Dakota Access Pipeline in an effort to make them stop near Cannon Ball, North

Dakota on September 03, 2016 (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)

Canada approves tripling capacity of Trans Mountain pipeline to Pacific pic.twitter.com/MF6eOdTBV1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 30, 2016

Six more officials charged in Flint water scandal

Yahoo – AFP, July 29, 2016

The damage to the Flint's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent,
causing residents to use filters to make their water drinkable (AFP Photo/
Brett Carlsen)

  

Chicago (AFP) - Authorities in the US state of Michigan filed criminal charges Friday against six current and former state officials over lead water contamination in the city of Flint, signaling that their probe is expanding.

"Many things went tragically wrong in Flint. Some failed to act," Michigan State Attorney General Bill Schuette told a news conference as he announced the new charges.

"Some intentionally altered figures, and covered up."

More than 8,000 children are believed to have consumed lead-tainted water in the hardscrabble northern city, which has become a focus of the 2016 White House race.

Until now, three state workers had been criminally charged over the health crisis, which occurred in the aftermath of government officials' cost-saving effort in 2014 to switch the city's source of drinking water.

One took a plea agreement to cooperate in the probe.

Chief investigator Andrew Arena said his team was "starting to work our way up" in the areas of state government they were investigating, and expanding the probe "into other departments."

"This at the end will be the largest criminal investigation in the history of the state of Michigan," he said.

On Friday authorities charged another six current and former state employees for covering up evidence of water contamination. They face various felony and misdemeanor counts, including conspiracy, misconduct in office and tampering with evidence.

Flint residents Gladyes Williamson (C) holds a bottle full of contaminated water,

and a clump of her hair, alongside Jessica Owens (R), holding a baby bottle full

of contaminated water (AFP Photo/Mark Wilson)

Experts say the new source of water proved more corrosive on aging pipes and caused lead contamination that exposed thousands of children to the toxin.

"In essence, these individuals concealed the truth. They were criminally wrong to do so," Schuette said.

The highest ranked official charged is Liane Shekter Smith, who was fired in February from her post as chief of Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality.

"Shekter Smith ignored reports that the (water treatment) plant was out of compliance, lied that the water plant was certified, and deliberately misled her superiors," Schuette said.

She faces a felony charge of misconduct in office and a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty.

The others charged are: Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott, who are current employees in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Corrine Miller, a former MDHHS employee; and Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal, current employees of the state's Department of Environmental Quality.

Todd Flood, special counsel for the Flint probe, said he was in talks with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's office in connection with the investigation and that talks had been "constructive."

The damage to the city's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent. Residents must use filters to make their water drinkable.

Last month officials also filed a lawsuit accusing a French company and a Texas firm of negligence and fraud, for their roles in the Flint water crisis.

Bolivia, Peru sign $500 mn deal for Lake Titicaca clean-up

Yahoo – AFP, January 8, 2016

Lake Titicaca, which is the highest in the world, at an altitude of 3,800 meters
(12,470 feet) above sea level, provides a habitat for a number of frogs, birds
and fish, including two species that have almost been wiped out (AFP Photo
/Aizar Raldes)

La Paz (AFP) - Bolivia and Peru agreed to provide more than $500 million towards cleaning up Lake Titicaca, whose polluted waters are home to some animals nearing extinction, a Bolivian environment official said.

The deal, which is meant to improve the lake's biodiversity, includes environmental management and recovery through to 2025.

Lake Titicaca, which is the highest in the world, at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,470 feet) above sea level, provides a habitat for a number of frogs, birds and fish, including two species that have almost been wiped out.

Bolivia's Environment and Water Minister Alexandra Moreira and her Peruvian counterpart Manuel Pulgar signed the agreement during a public event.

"For the short term we have a limit of $117 million and for the long term $400 million," said Moreira's advisor Sergio Arispe.

“It's a logistical matter we are trying to manage through 2025," he said.

Part of the waste in the lake is generated by the Bolivian city of El Alto, near La Paz, which is home to about 800,000 people.

Peru's minister stressed that the two countries are "already taking concrete actions such as investing in water treatment plants to address the main problems the lake is facing."

Chinese prosecutors announce probe into deadly warehouse blasts

Chinese prosecutors are to probe whether deadly blasts at a warehouse in Tianjin were due to illegal storage of dangerous materials, state media say. The explosions killed 112 people and injured hundreds.

Deutsche Welle, 16 Aug 2015

State prosecutors in China said on Sunday they had started an investigation to see whether owners of the warehouse where the explosions occurred were guilty of violating laws on the storage of hazardous chemicals.

The announcement comes as authorities confirmed that hundreds of tons of the toxic chemical sodium cyanide had been on the site of the blasts late Wednesday evening in a mostly industrial area of the northern port city of Tianjin, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Beijing.

Such a large amount would be a clear violation of rules cited by state media that a maximum of 10 tons of the chemical may be stored at any one time. Chinese laws on hazmat storage also stipulate that such substances should not be kept closer than 1 kilometer from residential areas and public structures.

The Chinese military is helping with cleanup operations

Sodium cyanide can form a flammable gas upon contact with water, and members of the public have questioned whether this fact had been taken into account by firefighters responding to the accident. At least 21 firefighters were among those killed in the warehouse fire and ensuing explosions, making the disaster the deadliest for the Chinese fire brigade in more than six decades.

Eighty-five of the 1,000 firefighters sent to combat the blaze remained unaccounted for on Sunday, with 88 bodies of victims still unidentified.

In addition to the 112 people confirmed dead, more than 700 people were hospitalized with sometimes serious injuries. Many were hurt by glass shattered in the huge fireballs that rose over the city on Wednesday night.

The explosions caused massive
blast waves

Official reassurances

In the face of internet rumors to the contrary, authorities have sought to reassure the public that the air in Tianjin remains safe to breathe, despite slightly raised levels of some pollutants.

In a bid to further dispel public mistrust, the Chinese premier Li Keqiang arrived in the city on Sunday afternoon and came within a kilometer of the blast site without wearing any form of protective clothing.

Li also visited those injured and displaced by the disaster.

The government has also shut down a total of 50 websites and 360 social media accounts for "creating panic by publishing unverified information or letting users spread groundless rumors," according to the Cyberspace Administration of China.

The Tianjin accident was one of the deadliest to occur in China in recent years. In June 2013, a fire at a poultry plant in the northeastern province of Jilin killed 121 people. In August 2014, 97 died in an explosion at a metal plant in eastern Jiangsu province.

tj/sgb (AP, dpa, AFP)

An aerial view of Tianjin Port, October 2012. (File photo/Xinhua)

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Indonesia Clears Path for Geothermal Energy as Power Needs Rise

Nation plans 25 tenders for new geothermal sites next year and aims to boost geothermal to 10 percent of power mix

Jakarta Globe, Michael Taylor & Wilda Asmarini, Nov 21, 2014

Jakarta. Indonesia has unveiled ambitious targets to triple geothermal power output this decade, introducing a series of land and regulatory reforms aimed at becoming the world’s largest producer of the fossil fuel alternative.

Sat atop the volcanic Pacific Ring of Fire, the world’s fourth-most populous nation is anxious to exploit geothermal energy as a clean and abundant power source as it races to attract investors and meet soaring power demand.

“With Indonesia increasingly having to import oil, coupled with a growing electricity demand, it is critical that it diversifies it base for electricity generation,” said Chris de Lavigne of consultancy Frost & Sullivan. “Indonesia has the potential to become the world’s largest producer of geothermal.”

As the world’s third-biggest geothermal producer with a capacity of 1.4 gigawatt (GW), Indonesia lags behind the Philippines and the United States with capacities of 1.9 and 3.4 GW each. Indonesia aims to up its capacity by 4.9 GW by 2019.

Yet progress has been slow due to red tape, uncompetitive power tariffs and uncertainty over asset ownership. The 25 years it has taken from the planning stage to breaking ground on its latest project show the formidable barriers the sector faces.

The government says reforms to curb the power of regional authorities to intrude on projects, as well as to make it easier to build in forest areas, should accelerate development of 25 project sites due for tender in early 2015.

“There are no more obstacles in this sector. It’s time for us to work. It is a business opportunity,” said Tisnaldi, director of geothermal, directorate general of renewable energy and energy conservation at the energy and mines ministry.

Geothermal investors hope the new government of President Joko Widodo will follow up with plans to reform power price caps in the same way it reduced subsidies for transport fuel, as well as tackle other obstacles.

“If you can lift the hurdle behind land acquisition and permits, that will help,” said Fazil Alfitri, president director at Medco Power Indonesia, a firm active in geothermal power.

Geothermal projects typically tap heat below the earth’s crust by pumping water into deep wells where it is converted into steam to drive turbines.

But they are susceptible to red-tape given they usually need long-term, complex government policy commitments. They also came under Indonesian mining laws, restricting developments in forest areas until recent amendments.

Indonesia’s plans could see geothermal meet 10 percent of power demand by 2020, up from 3 percent today. Currently about half of power supplies are met by coal, a fuel it is keen to use less in order to boost exports. Gas makes up about 20 percent and oil 12 percent.

Many geothermally active countries are planning new plants, with global capacity jumping from 2 to 12 GW since 1980.

Frost and Sullivan’s Lavigne said Indonesia’s geothermal capacity could be as high as 29 GW, almost two-thirds of the country’s current overall generation.

‘Game changer’

The $1.6 billion Sarulla project in North Sumatra, the world’s biggest, saw construction start this year, 25 years after it was first planned, delayed largely by a lack of finance and red tape.

Describing Sarulla as a “game-changer”, Shamim Razavi, an energy lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright, said it would mean financers would be prepared to look for new projects.

Most of the biggest existing plants, such as Chevron’s Salak, are on densely populated Java island.

Sarulla will connect to the national grid, although some plants in remote spots are restricted to serving local areas. The 25 new sites set for tender in early 2015 are mostly in forest areas in Java and Sumatra. Sarulla will have a capacity of 330 MW, enough to power about 330,000 homes.

If successful, Indonesia could follow its Southeast Asian neighbor the Philippines, where geothermal fuel meets a quarter of electricity use, reducing pollution and fuel imports.

Reuters