Govt revives Takalar, Patuha power projects
Wednesday, April 1 2009 - 02:27 AM WIB
The two power projects are the Patuha geothermal power plant in Ciwidey near Bandung, West Java and Takalar coal-fired power plant in South Sulawesi.
Speaking in Jakarta on Monday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that the construction of the Patuha power plant should be continued so that by 2010, the geothermal power plant would be able to begin commercial operation.
Last week, three state owned banks -- Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) -- signed a loan commitment for the Pathua geothermal power plant to be developed by PT Geo Dipa Energy (GDE), a joint venture between state owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina and state electricity firm PT PLN.
The project is estimated to cost $143 million.
The Patuha area is believed to have geothermal resources able to generate up to 400 MW. But, the firm has thus far only planned to build one power generation unit with a capacity of 55 MW.
The Patuha power project is among those to be developed under the Phase II 10,000 MW fast-track program, including 4,733 MW from geothermal power projects.
Meanwhile, Dedy Supriadi, the deputy chairman of the National Planning Board (Bappenas) said on Tuesday state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negera (PLN) would re-tender the Takalar coal-fired power plant in Jeneponto, South Sulawesi, which would have two turbines each with a capacity of 155 megawatt.
The Takalar power project would be re-tendered because the selling price offered by a Spanish company appointed to build and operate the power plant was rejected by PLN.
PLN offered the selling price around Rp 1,200- Rp 1,500 per Kwh (1US$ = Rp 11,575) but Spanish firm requested around Rp 1,900-2,000 per Kwh.
Dedy said that the Spanish company would be still allowed to take part in the re-tender because a part of the funding for the project would come from the Spanish government.
He did not name the Spanish firm. (*)