First unit of Sarulla power plant to start operation November
Wednesday, February 24 2016 - 05:16 AM WIB
The first unit of the 3x110 MW Sarulla geothermal power plant in North Sumatra is scheduled to begin commercial operation on Nov. 23, 2016, according to an official at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
?The EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) progress of Sarulla power plant has reached 70 percent per February . The power plant is targeted to start operation on 23 Nov. 2016,? Geothermal Director at the ministry Yunus Saefulhak told Petromindo.com Wednesday.
The remaining two units are scheduled to be in commercial operation within 18 months of the first unit.
The Sarulla Consortium comprises of ITOCHU Corporation and Kyushu Electric Power Co. Inc. of Japan, Ormat Technologies of the US, PT Medco Power Indonesia, a subsidiary of IDX-listed energy firm PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk, and Japanese firm Inpex Corp. Last June, Inpex acquired 49 percent of an affiliate of Medco in the Sarulla Geothermal Independent Power Producer (IPP) project.
The consortium has signed an energy sales agreement with state-owned electricity firm PT PLN (Persero), under which the latter would buy electricity from the Sarulla geothermal power project at $6.5 per Kwh.
The project involves constructing a geothermal power plant with a maximum capacity of 330MW in the Sarulla Geothermal Field located in North Sumatra Province, and providing generated power to PLN over a period of 30 years. The power plant currently under construction is expected to initiate commercial operations in 2016, and reach an output of 330MW, equivalent to the annual consumption of 700,000 households in Japan, by 2018.
Operations in the geothermal field, owned by concession holder PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, is under development by the consortium through the subsidiaries of each participating company. These subsidiaries have jointly established Sarulla Operations Ltd, the operating company for the project. INPEX Geothermal Sarulla, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of INPEX, has acquired 49% in a Medco affiliate which controls 37.25% of the project.
The project is aligned to the second 10,000 MW fast track power development program rolled out by the Indonesian government in 2010 to secure electricity supply for the country.
As addressed in its Medium-to Long Term Vision, Inpex will continue to explore business opportunities in renewable energies such as geothermal energy and photovoltaic power generation to become an integrated energy company. The company?s decision to participate in this project is a part of such efforts. It is the first time for Inpex to engage in a geothermal IPP project in Indonesia.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak