ITB Geothermal Workshop: Geothermal for National Energy Independence

By Muhammad Hanif

Editor Muhammad Hanif

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - Realizing Indonesia's geothermal potential is very abundant, ITB held 1st Geothermal Workshop held on Tuesday through Thursday (06-08/03/12). The event that was organized by Magister Program in Geothermal Technology of ITB took place in ITB and also in Kamojang Geothermal field, West Java. Short courses, seminars, technical sessions and field trips are the agenda of this international workshop.

Dr. Eng Suryantini as Chairman of the event, explained that the event aims to support Indonesia as a Geothermal Centre of Excellence. With the theme "Toward National Geothermal Capacity Building in Indonesia", the workshop was initiated to determine the needs of geothermal industry in Indonesia, especially on the quality of human resources.

ITB as the only institute that has a Geothermal Engineering Program in the world realizes that Indonesia has the largest geothermal potential and environmentally friendly energy needs will increase. This is in line with the Indonesian government's policy to reduce carbon emissions. In addition, various topics related to geothermal development such as technology, industry, and policies have contributed to the subject in this event.

Attending the panel discussion from the various sectors such as industry, government, and also attended by geothermal academics within and outside the country. In addition the event also attended by representatives of the countries that joined the WGC (World Geothermal Congress).

 

Support for Magister Program in Geothermal Technology

Many supports came to assist the development of Magister Program in Geothermal Technology of ITB. In the plenary session event, Star Energy signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering (FTTM). That MoA is for donation to scholarships and programs for geothermal engineering student.

In addition, Pertamina also enhance cooperation with ITB which is marked by the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Cooperation is to support ITB specifically for Geothermal Engineering Program.

Many people welcomed this event, including foreign institutions who want to be a supporter of this workshop. "Hopefully this kind of activities can take place in subsequent years so that the development of geothermal development in Indonesia is getting better," said Suryantini.