Chevron to launch geothermal plant

U.S. energy giant Chevron is ready to launch a 110-megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant project in Garut, West Java, after a team was set up to hopefully resolve a variety of problems with the local administration, The Jakarta Post newspaper reported in its Saturday edition.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro will preside over the opening of the Dradjat 3 project on Nov. 29, the company’s local unit president Wahyudin Yudiana said here on Thursday on the sidelines of a symposium held by the Association of Indonesian Oil Engineering Experts (IATMI).

“We can resolve the problems with the Garut administration,” said Yudiana. “We have a team , which includes people from the local administration as well as the central government, to find the best solutions regarding their wishes,” he explained, but did not go into specifics of the problems encountered.

Yudiana said the electricity produced by the plant, the third of its kind in the complex after the 55-MW Dradjat I1 and 90-MW Daradjat 2, would be sold to the state power firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

The construction of the Dradjat 3 plant was already commenced at the beginning of the year, with operations scheduled to begin in the second semester of 2006, he said.

Geothermal resources in Dradjat are abundant, clean, renewable and able to easily generate up to 330 MW of electrical power.

Next year, Chevron will conduct a feasibility study on the possibility of building a fourth geothermal power plant in the same area (*)