Medco, partners seek higher price for Sarulla power
Friday, November 28 2008 - 01:37 AM WIB
MPI and its partners are proposing to raise the price to between 5-7 U.S cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) from 4.64 U.S. cent per kWh under the power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with state owned elecricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negera (PLN) in 2004, MPI?s President Director Fazil Alfitri told reporters on Thursday.
?The production cost has increased, exceeding the agreed selling price,? he said.
As a result of the price negotiation, the consortium will delay the development of the first phase of the project until 2011 frm the initial plan of 2010.
The Sarulla geothermal plant will be constructed over a period of five years in three phases with a power generation unit with a capacity of 110 MW to 120 MW to be built in each phase. The first unit is expected to come online within 30 months after the financial closing, while the remaining two units are scheduled to commence operation 18 months after the completion of the first unit. The power to be delivered from the power plant will serve as the base load for PLN?s North Sumatra dan Aceh grid system.
The Medco-led consortium which includes Japan?s Itochu Corp (25 percent), Kyushu Electric Power Co Inc (25 percent) and American firm Ormat Technologies Inc. (12.75 percent) has been chosen by PLN to build and operate the proposed 340-MW plant at the cost of US$600 million.(godang)