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Keen to develop clean energy, Indonesia is now permitting underground mining in protected forests to help harness the power of the earth, a senior official said on Friday.

A new presidential regulation would allow greater geothermal development because 80 percent of geothermal reserves were found beneath protected forests or national parks.

“The regulation is much awaited as it will pave the way for us to develop our geothermal potential,” Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam said on Friday.

Currently, the country is the third-largest producer of geothermal power, but the five existing plants contribute only 1.5 percent of the nation’s power generation capacity.

The state goal is 25 percent renewable power by 2025 along with 23 percent natural gas, 30 percent oil, and 22 percent coal. Geothermal, hydropower and bio-energy are the flagship sources in the new policy.

A presidential regulation signed on Thursday stated that underground mining could be conducted in protected forests areas so long as it did not change the general use and purpose of the area.

Experts have argued that in underground mining there is no immediate alteration to the above-ground landscape because operators usually only build tunnels to reach the geothermal energy sites. The long-term effects are still in question.

The regulation stipulates that underground mining activities must first get a permit in principle from the minister of forestry and follow up with a permit for the use of protected forest areas.

An Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal), issued by the Ministry of Environment should also be attached to the application for the permit.