Bangka Belitung III coal-fired power plant to start operation in December
Friday, November 15 2013 - 12:24 AM WIB
The second unit of the Bangka Belitung III 30 MW coal-fired power plant is expected to start production soon as construction process has reached 98.2 percent of the planned works, according to a statement from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources received Friday.
The statement said that electricity from the power plant, located in Merawang District, Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung province, will enter the Bangka Belitung electricity system in December of this year.
Part of the phase 1 of the 10,000 MW fast track program, the power plant is being developed by state-utility firm PLN with a consortium of IDX-listed PT Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering Tbk and China Shanghai (Group) Corporation for Foreign Economic & Technological Corporation (SFECO) as the contractor.
Meanwhile, the first unit of the power plant is scheduled to start operation in the middle of next year.
The coal-fired power plant will help reduce the dependency of Bangka Belitung on diesel-fired power plants, thus allowing PLN to save cost as coal is cheaper that diesel fuel.
The Bangka Belitung III coal-fired power plant requires coal supply of 420,000 tons per year, which will come from South Sumatra.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak