Four geothermal plants set to start production this year
Wednesday, February 22 2017 - 02:22 AM WIB
Courtesy of ESDM
Four geothermal power plants with combined capacity of 215 MW are set to start producing electricity this year, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Wednesday.
The paper quoted Director of Geothermal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Yunus Saefulhak as saying that the four geothermal power plants (PLTP) included PLTP Sarulla unit 1 (Medco Energi) in North Sumatra with capacity of 110 MW to start operation end of February; PLTP Karaha Bodas with capacity of 30 MW (Pertamina Geothermal Energy/PGE) to start operation in June; PLTP Ulubelu unit 4 (PGE) with capacity of 55 MW; and lastly Sorik Merapi Moduler (KS Orka Renewables Pte Ltd, Singapore) in North Sumatra with capacity of 20 MW. ?So, the total is 215 MW (which will start operation this year,? Yunus said.
Installed capacity of geothermal power plants in Indonesia currently stands at 1,513.5 MW.
Meanwhile, regarding new geothermal power plant projects to be offered to investors, Yunus said that the ministry is currently drafting a new policy on electricity tariff from geothermal project. The ministry recently introduced a new regulation limiting electricity tariff from renewables at 85 percent of the so-called electricity production cost base of state-owned electricity firm PT PLN. Yunus said that under the planned new regulation, there is possibility for higher tariff of electricity from geothermal power plants. (*)