Medco inaugurates capacity expansion of Panaran power plant

PT Medco Power Indonesia (MPI), which is 49 percent owned by IDX-listed energy company PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk and 51 percent owned by PT Saratoga Power, held a ceremony on Friday to inaugurate the completion of capacity expansion of its Panaran combined cycle power plant in Batam, Riau Islands Province.

The US$55.5 million project, expands the capacity of the power plant to 83 MW from 56 MW by adding new chiller and combined cycle, Medco said in a statement.

The power plant is run by MPI subsidiary PT Mitra Energi Batam. The extra power will be supplied to PT Batam Bright, a subsidiary of state-owned electricity firm PT PLN, under a 20-year contract.

Elsewhere, Medco said that MPI, through another subsidiary PT Energi Listrik Batam (ELB), completed the construction (mechanical completion) of a 2x35 MW Tanjung Uncang gas fired power plant, also in Batam.

As has been previously reported, the power plant is expected to receive gas from the Gajah Baru field in Block A Natuna PSC operated by British firm Premier Oil. But, the pipelines that will be used to deliver the gas is still under construction and is scheduled to be completed in September 2015.

MPI President Director Fazil E. Alfitri told this portal previously that while waiting for the flow of Premier?s gas, the Tanjung Uncang power plant will get interim gas (or swap gas) from Sumatra system owned state owned gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk. (PGN).

PGN through its subsidiary PT Transportasi Gas Indonesia already has a gas transmission and distribution network in Batam to deliver gas from Corridor Block in central Sumatra operated by ConocoPhillips.

Medco earlier said that the Tanjung Uncang power will come on stream later this year.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak