With the identified potential for geothermal energy in Indonesia, the Government of Indonesia has set up a government-sponsored exploration-drilling program in partnership with the World Bank under the Geothermal Energy Upstream Development Project (GEUDP). This program aims to unlock barriers of geothermal power development due to large risk and prohibitive costs associated with exploring the resource to accelerate renewable energy development in Indonesia and to promote sustainable development in the energy sector. The New Zealand Government also supports the project by providing technical support through the Geo-INZ programme under the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade (NZ MFAT).

PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (Persero) (“SMI”) acts as the implementing agency for the program based on the assignment from the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia. From a technical point of view, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) through the Directorate General of Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (Ditjen EBTKE) and the Geological Unit (Badan Geologi – BG) take part actively in the program. The project, along with a full database, will be returned to MEMR after completion with the intention that MEMR will be able to offer the prospect for tendering by a private sector developer, or to assign the project for development by an SOE. The program will be focused on green field areas in the eastern part of Indonesia.

Based on a recommendation from the MEMR, SMI implement the first geothermal exploration site at Wae Sano Village on West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. The Waesano Geothermal Exploration Project is one of several projects planned by the Government to facilitate the exploration phase and deliver data to the market on exploitable geothermal resources.

Early geoscientific exploration surveys have indicated the possible potential for the development of a geothermal power project of up to 30 MW. The objective of this project is to refresh early geoscientific surveys and, subject to ongoing satisfactory indications regarding the prospect, proceed to the drilling and testing of three exploration wells.