Bedugul geothermal power plant can be continued: Purnomo
Thursday, March 8 2001 - 04:00 AM WIB
The government is inviting investors to continue the development of Bedugul geothermal-powered power plant in Bali to meet increasing electricity demand in the resort island, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said.
Purnomo said that national electricity demand grew by 12 percent per annum, and if there was no new investment in power generation in the Java-Bali system, there would be power glut by year 2003.
"Especially Bali, it needs new electricity generation because there are currently only two power plants, and both are old. So, if Bedugul is to be continued, please do so," he was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia as saying in Yogyakarta on Tuesday evening (March 6).
He noted that the previous investors had drilled three holes in Bedugul to find the geothermal, but two of them turned out to be dry hole.
"There was an indication of geothermal potentials in the third hole, but it was not yet checked further as it was prevented by the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 5/1998 that stopped the project because of the crisis," he said.
The minister promised that the government would facilitate new investors interested in continuing the Bedugul power plant.
"We are ready to open a new negotiation, provided that the prices are competitive. If there is an investor ready to enter the project, just send a letter to the negotiating team at PLN. The government will facilitate (the negotiation and the development of the project) as stipulated in the Presidential Decree No. 133/2000," he said.
The Bedugul project, located 60 kilometers Southwest of Denpasar, the capital of Bali province, was explored by a consortium of Bali Energy consortium, based on a cooperation agreement with state oil and gas company Pertamina as well as state electricity company PLN. But the exploration of the Bedugul project was stopped following the issuance of the Presidential Decree No. 5/1998. (*)