Banten coal-fired power plant to start operation end 2016

PT Lestari Banten Energi said that construction of a 660 MW coal-fired power plant in Banten has reached 40 percent of the targeted works, and is expectef it to start operation in December 2016, four months faster than the initial target of April 2017.

"Construction has been smooth without significant hurdle," said Deputy Director for Business Development Achmad Janwal to Bisnis Indonesia Wednesday.

He said the company has also built a 500 kV transmission line more than 1 km in length to distribute the power output to the local station of state utility PT PLN.

Lestari has signed power purchase agreement with PLN to sell the electricity at.UU$5.99 per kwh,

The $970 million project is financed by Citibank and four Malaysian banks inckuding Maybank, RHB, Malaysia Eximbank, and CIMB.

The power plant will need 3 million tons of coal per year, to be supplied by miners Kideco and Baramulti.

Achmad said Lestari plans to start construction of another 660 MW coal fired plant in Banten next year, which is expected to be completed in 2018.(*)