Star Energy Geothermal is in talks to sell its clean power to data centers in Indonesia, according to its chief executive.

The company, which is owned by PT Barito Renewables Energy, one of Indonesia’s largest businesses, is in discussions with data center operators about building facilities adjacent to its power plants.

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Indonesia is a major producer of geothermal power – Getty Images

Currently, Star Energy supplies geothermal power to Indonesia’s national grid. But, speaking at Bloomberg’s Sustainable Business Summit in Singapore, the company’s chief executive Hendra Soetjipto Tan said it was looking to shift to selling to data centers and other “customers who are willing to buy renewable energy in Indonesia.”

Star Energy currently operates three geothermal plants in Indonesia, in Wayang Windu, Sarak, and Darajat, generating more than 1GW electricity. According to its website, it is investigating the potential to build plants at two other locations.

Geothermal energy harnesses heat stored naturally under the Earth’s crust in areas of high seismic activity. According to the Asian Development Bank, Indonesia has the world’s largest geothermal potential because of its location straddling the Pacific Ring of Fire, a 40,000km belt which is home to more than 750 volcanos.

In total, Indonesia currently produces 2.1GW of geothermal energy, 13 percent of the global total for the renewable power source, the Asian Development Bank said.

Data center operators have been harnessing geothermal energy in other parts of the world to meet their soaring power requirements. In May, Microsoft and AI company G42 said they would build an geothermal-powered data center in Kenya as part of a $1 billion investment in the country.

Google announced a 115MW purchase of geothermal energy for its data centers in Nevada in June. The search giant procured the power using a novel clean transition tariff, which will see the energy supplied directly to Google.