Govt accelerates two coal-fired power projects

The government will push for speedy completion of two coal-fired power plant projects to help avoid a projected power shortage in 2016-2017 in Java due to the delay in the operation of the giant 2x1,000 MW Batang coal-fired power plant project in Central Java, reports said on Wednesday.

The operation of the Batang power plant has been delayed from the initial schedule of 2016 into 2018 due to lingering problem in land acquisition process.

Director General of Electricity Jarman said that the government will accelerate the completion of the expansion project of the Cirebon coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1,000 MW and the Cilacap coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 600 MW, both in West Java. ?This is to replace the delay in the operation of the Batang power plant,? he said.

He is confident that the expansion projects could be speed up as it would not require land acquisition process as they?re located in existing power plant areas. ?The expansion of the Cilacap power plant has already started,? he was quoted by Kompas daily as saying.

With regards with the expansion of the Cirebon power plant, the consortium of PT Cirebon Electric Power has been in talks with state utility PLN over the power purchase agreement, if could be reached this year, construction process can start early next year, in the hope that it could be completed in 2016-2017. (*)