Arun power plant will start operation later this year

The combined cycle power plant, which is now under construction in Arun, Aceh is expected to start operation later this year. The new power plant with a capacity of 2 x 20 MW is expected to help cope with the shortage of power supply in the northern part of the province, Neraca daily reported on Wednesday.

Albert Pangaribuan, the general manager of the state owned electricity company PLN?s office for North Sumatra, said that the operational schedule was fixed after the Implementation Body of Oil and Gas (BPMigas) agreed with PLN?s gas price requirement.

The uncertainty in gas price had became one of the main handicaps in the construction of the new power plant until Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro stepped in and lobbied the Implementation Body for price reduction.

He refused to unveil the price of the gas, which would be supplied from the Arun gas field. "The price will be about US$1.5 and $2 per mmbtu," he said, adding that PLN would construct a 3 kilometer gas pipeline from the gas field soon after the final agreement of the gas is settled. (*)