Indonesia struggling to tap volcano power

Wayang Windu, Indonesia

COLUMNS of steam shoot from the ground at an Indonesian power plant sitting in the shadow of an active volcano, as energy is tapped from the red-hot underbelly of the archipelago.

Pipes zig-zag up rugged mountainsides covered in tea plantations, carrying steam from the Earth's core to power enormous, electricity-generating turbines at the Wayang Windu facility on Java island.

Indonesia, a seismically active island chain studded with scores of volcanoes, holds an estimated 40 per cent of the world's geothermal energy reserves, but has long lagged behind in its use of the renewable power source.

Now the government is pushing to expand the sector five-fold in the next decade, although the challenges are huge in a country where the burden …