Medco, Geodipa in the shortlist of bidders for Sarulla project

State electricity firm PT PLN has shortlisted Indonesian firms Medco Energy and Geodipa Energy, a joint venture of PLN and state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, to carry out the Sarulla geothermal project in North Sumatra, according a PLN senior official.

Ali Herman Ibrahim, PLN?s director of primary energy and power generation, said that both companies offered the lowest bidding prices, but the prices were still higher than PLN?s expectation.

Both firms set the price for the power supplies from the planned geothermal plant at above 4.8 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), while PLN asked for the price of less than 4.8 cents per kWh.

?We shall negotiate (on the price) with the bidders and, based on the results of the negotiation, we shall directly appoint the winner of the tender,? Ali said.

The project will be developed under the ?operation right? scheme, meaning PLN will hold title to the power plant, while the developer of the project will holds the so-called ?operation right?. The Sarulla power plant is expected to be able to generate up to 300 MW of power.

Aside from Medco and Geodipa, several foreign investors took part in the pre-qualification phase of the tender. Geodipa is the owner of the Dieng and Patuha geothermal power plants. (Alex)