KS Orka plans to invest $2b in RI geothermal sector

SGX-listed KS Orka Renewables Ltd plans to invest up to US$2 billion over a five-year period to develop a combined 500 MW geothermal power plants in Indonesia, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Monday.

This was said by KS Orka CEO, Eirikur Bragason in an interview with the paper. He said that the company will introduce its new technology to accelerate the development of geothermal power plants in Indonesia, where the government aims to boost geothermal power plants capacity to 7,000 MW by 2025, from a round 1,600 MW currently.

Eirikur said that while the overall policy environment has now been quite favorable for investors in developing geothermal power plants in Indonesia, the company is anticipating for better tariff of electricity produced by geothermal power plants particularly in remote regions where infrastructure facilities are very limited.

KS Orka currently owns the 240 MW Sorik geothermal power plant project in North Sumatra, following the acquisition of 100 percent of PT OTP Geothermal Pte Ltd from Origin Energy Goethermal Singapore Pte Ltd and Tata Power International Pte Ltd. PT OTP Geothermal owns 95 percent of PT Sorik Merapi Geothermal Power, the owner of the Sorik geothermal power plant project.

This portal reported earlier this month, that KS Orka has signed a binding conditional sale and purchase agreement to acquire 95 percent shares of PT Sokoria Geothermal Indonesia (SGI) from ASX-listed Xped Ltd and its JV partner PT Bakrie Power. SGI is developing a 30 MW geothermal power plant project on Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province.

KS Orka is a joint venture between Iceland?s Hugar Orka and China?s Zhejiang Kaishan Compressor Co Ltd. (*)