Jokowi kicks off construction of PLTU Batang
Friday, August 28 2015 - 02:36 PM WIB
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by among others Coordinating Minister of the Economy Darmin Nasution, Minister of State Enterprises Rini Soemarno, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said, Minister of Finance Bambang PS Brodjonegoro, Minister of Agrarian and Zoning Affairs/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) Ferry Mursyidin Baldan, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, President Director of state owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) Sofyan Basir and President Director of PT Bhimasena Power Indonesia (BPI) Mohammad Effendi, PLN said in a statement.
The construction of the US$4 billion key project suffered lengthy delays after its developer BPI faced difficulties in completing the acquisition of the required 226 hectares of land amid opposition from some land owners and environmental activists. Upon the government's instruction, PLN stepped in last year to help the firm acquire the lands.
BPI is a consortium comprising of Jakarta listed coal giant PT Adaro Energy Tbk, and Japan?s J-Power Energy Power Development Co. Ltd. and Itochu Corp.
The power plant will be with the Ultra Super Criticial (USC) technology, which is the latest technology in the field, highly efficient and more environmentally friendly than the technology used in the common coal-fired power plants. It will be the largest power plant in Southeast Asia to use such technology, according to PLN.
During the event, Jokowi also launch PLN?s program to provide power for outlying regions of the country, including islands situated on the borders with neighboring countries. Under the program, PLN will install 149 diesel power generators in 50 locations spread in 13 provinces, namely Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Sumatera, West Sumatera, Riau, Riau Archipelago, West Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku and Papua.
With a combined capacity of 67.8 MW, the power generators will electrify a total of 35,468 new customers in those areas.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon