Marubeni, Chubu Electric to participate in RI power plant project

Japan's Marubeni will join compatriot Chubu Electric Power in a consortium that will construct and operate a state-of-the-art coal-fired power plant in Indonesia to answer the country's growing electricity needs, Nikkei.com reported Friday.

The news portal said, without disclosing the source for the story, that the group of five companies, including Indonesia's Indika Energy and South Korean coal producer Samtan, will make up the joint venture that will soon ink a 25-year contract with Indonesia's state-run power utility PLN to sell it electricity. Marubeni will own a 35 percent stake in the venture while Chubu Electric will own 10 percent.

The plant will have an output capacity of 1 million kilowatts. The whole project will cost around US$2 billion, with the consortium to procure funds from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and other sources, the report said.

The group will construct the plant at a site acquired near another coal-fired plant in the city of Cirebon, West Java. That plant, which was built by Marubeni in 2012, has an output capacity of 660,000kW. The new facility is expected to go online in 2020, the report added.

Marubeni has power generation operations in 23 countries, and overseas output capacity reaches about 10 million kilowatts in accordance with the company's share in those projects. However, Marubeni is facing increasing competition in landing orders, especially in Asia with its ballooning power demand. To better its competitive advantage, the company is partnering with Chubu Electric in Oman and Qatar, and is cooperating with Tokyo Electric Power in building power plants in the Philippines and other places.

Although Chubu Electric is participating in power plant projects in the U.S., Canada, Thailand and elsewhere, the company is jumping into Indonesia for the first time, Nikkei said.(*)