Inpex commences operation of second unit of Sarulla geothermal plant

Inpex Corp announced Tuesday that through its subsidiary Inpex Geothermal Sarulla, Ltd., it commenced commercial operations of the second unit of the Sarulla geothermal independent power producer (IPP) project, the world's largest single-contract geothermal power project located in Indonesia?s North Sumatra Province.

The sales of power generated from the project's first unit with capacity of 110 MW have already begun following commercial operation in March of this year.

?With the commencement of commercial operations of the second unit, the project's total output generated by the first and second units will amount to approximately 220MW,? Inpex said in a statement.

Construction of the Sarulla geothermal power plant, which will have a combined output of approximately 330MW, began in 2014 and the first unit commenced commercial operations in March 2017. Subsequently, the project partners moved ahead with construction work etc., on the second and third units aimed at the commencement of commercial operations in sequence, resulting in the commercial startup of the second unit at this time.

As with the first unit, power generated from the second unit is scheduled to be sold to Perusahaan Listrik Negara, Indonesia's government-owned electricity company for a period of 30 years. The new supply of electricity generated from this project is expected to contribute to the economic development of Indonesia, where demand for electricity is growing.

The subsidiaries of Inpex, Itochu Corporation, Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. of Japan, PT Medco Power of Indonesia and Ormat Technologies of the US as well as Sarulla Operations Ltd., the operating company for the project jointly established by these subsidiaries, will continue to work toward commencing commercial operations of the third unit in 2018, the Inpex statement said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak