Indonesia holds around 40% of the world’s geothermal energy reserves. With the correct investment strategy, Indonesia might boost its sector activities and create geothermal-based green hydrogen and ammonia. Some related projects, such as Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), are already underway, exploring green hydrogen production.
PGE, an Indonesian state-controlled refiner, plans to initiate a green hydrogen pilot project in Lampung’s Ulubelu geothermal operating region by 2023. In the pilot project, the company hopes to generate up to 100 kg/day of green hydrogen and can produce 8,600 kg/d of green hydrogen. The project aims to provide hydrogen to Pertamina’s polypropylene (PP) factory in Plaju while meeting local petrochemical demand. According to Argus statistics, the PP facility has a capacity of 45,000 t/yr.
The project is presently in the final stages of obtaining environmental licenses, with the firm focusing on the environmental impact analysis (AMDAL) revision process as one of the prerequisites.
Pertamina intends to boost investment in the new and renewable energy sectors in its most recent energy transformation strategy. It plans to increase its geothermal capacity from 672MW in 2020 to 1,128MW in 2026 and its solar, wind, and hydropower capacities. Additionally, the company intends to produce green hydrogen from additional renewable energy capacity and grey hydrogen from current refineries.
Pertamina is turning to renewable energy sources, such as hydrogen, to help it fulfill its aim of building 10GW of clean energy power generation capacity by 2026 as part of its 2050 green transition plan. Pertamina’s vice-president of business planning and portfolio also sees future global hydrogen demand from the mobility sector for vehicles and hydrogen fuel power packs. This demand is especially from countries in east Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, that already have targets for hydrogen in their future energy mix and could be potential customers.
(Source: Argus Media; Think Geoenergy; and Offshore Energy)
