Indonesia Harnessing Volcano Power
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Indonesia's 17,000 islands are home to hundreds of volcanoes and approximately 40 percent of the earth's geothermal energy potential and the nation's government is ready to harness that hot, clean energy.
The country has set a goal of bringing online 4GW of geothermal capacity by 2014, which will almost quadruple the current capacity of 1,189 MW. If you think that sounds ambitious, you're right. It generally takes three to five years just to complete field exploration and then another three years to actually build a geothermal plant.
And then there's the cost of the project -- $12 billion to be exact. The country is looking to the World Bank, private investors and developed countries like Japan and the U.S. for help raising the money. But once the plants are up and running, they're basically tapping into endless, clean energy with little overhead required.
Plus, this plan will go a long way towards reaching the Indonesian president's goals of cutting emissions to 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and adding 10GW of clean energy capacity by 2014.
via AFP
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