WKP Gunung Hamiding in Halmahera, The Nickle & Geothermal Island

The government will develop Halmahera Island, North Maluku Province, as a pilot for an economic cluster based on geothermal energy. Halmahera is one of the nickel-producing islands, where currently Indonesia is the largest nickel-producing country in the world with a production of 800 tons/year or about 27% of THE world production, while the island’s geothermal potential is around 800 MW, another potential is fisheries.

There are 2 nickel smelters in East Halmahera which are targeted to start operating in 2021. Halmahera Island’s electricity demand is estimated to reach 700 MW in the next few years.

There are 3 WKPs that are ready to be developed on Halmahera Island, namely: The Gunung Hamiding WKP which in PSPE status by PT Star Energy with a potential of 265 MW, WKP Jailolo (70 MW) which will be explored using government drilling program and WKP Telaga Ranu which is still open.

WKP Hamiding, which is located in North Halmahera and West Halmahera districts, covering an area of 158,000 Ha with big resources is becoming even more attractive because it is managed by Star Energy, the largest geothermal producer in Indonesia with total generating capacity of 934 MW and plan to reach 1,200 MW by 2028.

Star Energy received the PSPE assignment for WKP Gunung Hamiding in 2018 and immediately carried out a series of geoscience activities through PT NQ, namely Provision of Magnetotelluric (MT) Reprocessing Study Services covering:

1. Time series data review and verification.
2. Re-processing time series data of MT station.
3. 1-D MT and 3-D inversion model for focused areas.

The latest development states that PT Star Energy will soon carry out exploration drilling (PSPE mandatory) at the Gunung Hamiding WKP. For NQ, this is the 4th WKP which being carried out in North Maluku, the other 3 are Songa Wayaua (2018-2019), Telaga Ranu (2017), and Jailolo (2011).