C. Sulawesi power plant to resume operation
Monday, May 24 2010 - 03:14 AM WIB
The power plant is operated by PT Pusaka Jaya Palu Power, an independent power producer (IPP).
The coal supply was provided by PLN?s subsidiary PLN Batubara because the IPP had been unable to get coal supply due to financial problems. PLN had also provided a diesel generator with a capacity of 10 MW to cope with the power shortage in Central Sulawesi.
PLN's president director Dahlan Iskan told a hearing with the House of Representatives last week that the Mpanau power plant in Taweili had stopped operation because the price paid by PLN to buy the electricity from the power plant was still too low to enable it to buy coal supply.
He said that PLN was unable to increase the price due to the price cap imposed by the government. ?Under the government?s policy, PLN was not allowed to buy electricity at a price exceeding Rp 470 per kilowatt hour (kWh),? he said.
?Now we have agreed to increase the price to Rp 750 per kWh after the government recently removed the price cap,? he added. ?This will pave the way for the resumption of the power plant?s operation,? he added. (*)