Kamojang, popularly known as Kawah Kamojang or (the Kamojang crater

Volcanic crater

A volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent from which magma erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth...

), is a geothermal field and tourist spot in West Java

West Java

West Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. The crater is located approximately 45 km to the southeast of Bandung

Bandung

Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...

 through the town of Majalaya. The crater can also be reached from the opposite direction through the town of Garut

Garut

Garut is a town in the West Java province of Indonesia and is the capital of the Garut Regency. It is located about 75 km to the southeast of the major city of Bandung.-History:...

, in Garut Regency

Garut Regency

Garut is a Regency in the West Java province of Indonesia. Garut Regency Its area is 3,065.19 km² . Geographically, it lies between 6°57′34″ – 7°44′57″ South latitude and 107°24′34″ – 108°7′34″ East longitude.-Adjacent regencies:It is...

 (the distance by road from Garut to the northwest through the township of Samarang is around 25 km).

The volcano is that the crater is located on is named Mount Guntur

Mount Guntur

Mount Guntur or Gunung Guntur is an active stratovolcano in western Java. It is part of a complex of several overlapping stratovolcanoes about northwest of the city of Garut. The last eruption was in 1847. At an elevation of , Mount Guntur rises about above the plain of Garut...

 but the crater is listed as an active volcano of Indonesia because of its geothermal activities.

Geothermal activities

There is a long history of interest in the possibility of developing the geothermal potential of the Komojang region. The first geothermal wells in Indonesia were drilled at Kamojang in 1926 by the Dutch colonial government. The current geothermal field is on the slopes of Mt Guntur, about 7 km to the west of the peak of the mountain. There are three geothermal generating units with a total installed capacity of 140 MW.

Komojang is the site of the first modern geothermal site in Indonesia, commissioned by former president Soeharto in January 1983. The three current units are owned and operated by PT Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of the Indonesian state-owned electricity generating corporation, Perusahaan Listrik Negara

Perusahaan Listrik Negara

PLN is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electricity distribution in Indonesia.- History :...

(PLN). The concession to the field is held by PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, a subsidiary of another of Indonesia's major state-owned companies, PT Pertamina

Pertamina

Pertamina is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which extracts and refines the country's oil and gas reserves. It was created in August 1968 by the merger of Pertamin and Permina...

.

See also

• List of volcanoes in Indonesia
• Geothermal power in Indonesia
  Geothermal power in Indonesia
  Geothermal power in Indonesia is an increasingly significant source of renewable energy. As a result of its volcanic geology, Indonesia has 40% of the world's potential geothermal resources, estimated at 28,000 megawatts ....