Jakarta Globe are reporting that Iceland is looking to partner with Indonesia as Indonesia tries to harness its largely untapped geothermal potential.
Icelandic Ambassador to Indonesia Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson presented his letters of credentials to President Jokowi on Monday, formally starting his ambassadorship.
In a video broadcasted by the Presidential Secretariat, Jóhannesson said that Iceland was well-experienced in capturing the earth’s heat to meet its energy needs. The ambassador also revealed Iceland’s plans to share its geothermal technologies with Indonesia, say Jakarta Globe.
“Indonesia has one of the biggest reservoirs of geothermal energy in the world. Iceland has been harnessing geothermal energy for over a hundred years now. We have quite significant technologies that we can offer to Indonesia,” Jóhannesson said.
The envoy added that he had facilitated Icelandic geothermal firms to have business-to-business (B2B) meetings at the Indonesia International Geothermal Convention and Exhibition (IIGCE) not long ago.
Jakarta Globe report that government data shows that Indonesia holds 40-percent of the world’s geothermal reserves. The Energy Ministry estimates revealed that Indonesia’s geothermal potential stood at around 23-gigawatts. Indonesia has already installed a number of geothermal power plants with a combined capacity of approximately 2.3-gigawatts.
Energy Minister Arifin Tasrif visited Iceland last year during which he met with some Icelandic geothermal firms who were looking to expand their business in Indonesia; specifically Mannvit, Verkis, Isor, and North Tech Energy. The minister also visited Iceland’s Hellisheidi, one of the world’s largest geothermal power plants by installed capacity.
Iceland says that 66-percent of its primary energy sources come from geothermal.
Indonesia-Iceland bilateral trade had risen from USD 25.7-million in 2021 to USD 29.6-million the following year, according to government data.
Source: Jakarta Globe
