Jakarta. Iceland is seeking to partner with Indonesia as the latter tries to harness its largely untapped geothermal potential. 

Icelandic Ambassador to Indonesia Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson presented Monday his letters of credentials to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, thus formally starting his ambassadorship in the geothermal-rich country. 

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.

“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.

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 last year visited Iceland during which he met with some of Icelandic geothermal firms who were looking to expand their business in Indonesia. They were Mannvit, Verkis, Isor, and North Tech Energy. The minister also visited Iceland's Hellisheidi, namely 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 $25.7 million in 2021 to $29.6 million the following year, according to government data.

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