According to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), the electricity potential of geothermal power in Flores reaches 902 megawatts spread across 16 sites.
One of those points is located in Atakore village, Atadei subdistrict, Lembata district, NTT. One of the local community leaders, Nikodemus N Lejap, said that one of the reasons for the rejection of the construction of the PLTP is because the location where the geothermal is located, is a sacred place by custom. Every year, the community holds a customary ceremony at the place.
In addition, according to Nikodemus, in meetings with the public, PLN and the government did not give a full explanation regarding the PLTP project. Only the benefit side is much alluded to, but the side of the risks that may arise, is not clearly spelled out. Therefore, the public is burdened with questions related to the adverse impact of PLTP that have not been answered to date.
The geothermal location that the community enshrines is referred to as the Natural Kitchen. The PLTP construction project, according to Nikodemus, is only about 200 meters away from the site.
The Natural Kitchen, he added, has since centuries been the site of customary ceremonies for local residents. In addition, in this place there are also a number of hot spots that come out of the ground, and are used by the community.
Nicodemus details that the Natural Kitchen became the site of traditional village ritual ceremonies, where once a year they held a ceremony of burning young corn. Before it is performed in villages, the indigenous elders begin the series of events by holding ceremonies in this Natural Kitchen.
In addition, the geothermal generated long ago has been exploited by society. The holes from within the soil that give off that hot smoke are used to roast copra or dried coconuts, parsnips, nuts to coconuts.
People are worried that the PLTP will make them unable to perform traditional rituals or utilize geothermal heat for everyday purposes.
At the moment alone, the government has closed the area and erected border posts that make it difficult for people to access the site. Nicodemus said that people can no longer enter areas that have geothermal energy.
Nicodemus was concerned, that the parties involved in the project and were highly educated, could not understand the customary importance of the site to them.
PLN itself began to enter this region of Lembata around 2017, by drilling in existing geothermal hotspots. But after that, there was no activity at the site until 2024, when the PLTP construction project was restarted. Residents felt that they were not involved in the process, so rejection began to appear.
Ulumbu geothermal plant in Poco Leok, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Credit: Supplied/Doc. PLN
Seeing the devastating impact of the hot mud burst, people in different areas of NTT finally rejected the construction of a power plant in their area.
The atmosphere in these geothermal central regions has been heating up in recent weeks. A dissident PLTP activist was even found dead, alleging that there was an element of criminality that led to the death. Nicodemus said that 95 percent of citizens are willing to reject PLTP at various points.
