ChevronTexaco seeks credits for going greener

Jakarta - Amoseas Indonesia Incorporated, a subsidiary of US energy giant ChevronTexaco, on Monday announced plans to invest $100 million in a geothermal plant expansion for which it is seeking "emission credits" under the Kyoto protocol, executives said.

Amoseas pledged another $100-million investment to add a 110 megawatt unit to its existing geothermal plant in Darajat, West Java, that already has two units generating 145 MW of clean energy from underground steam created by the Darajat volcano.

Despite boasting the world's largest number of active volcanoes, Indonesia's use of geothermal power created by underground steam flows remains largely untapped.

"Indonesia's geothermal potential could be as much as 20 000 megawatts (MW) of electricity, but so far less than 5 per cent of this geothermal potential has been realized," said Amoseas Indonesia's president director Bernie McCloskey.

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