Paiton 3 starts commissioning for COD March 2012

PT Paiton Energy, a unit of UK power plant International Power plc that runs Paiton power plant in East Java said the 1x 815 MW Paiton 3 expansion project has been commissioned and it is expecting to start commercial operation in March 2012, the industrial source official told Petromindo.Com

Starting this month, the company will start to use coal, after in the first start-up of the power plant the company has used oil, the source said.

The company had appointed PT. Adaro Indonesia and PT. Kideco Jaya Agung to supply 2 million and 1 million tonnes of coal per annum respectively for the power plant under long-term contracts with price negotiated annually.

Both Adaro and Kideco has started the coal supply for the commissioning stage which is expected to last until December this year. "Both companies have supplied around 300,000 tonnes of coal for the commissioning stage," the source said.

Paiton Energy is currently running Paiton 7 and 8 units with combined capacity of 1,230MW. Once, Paiton 3 operates, Paiton Energy becomes the biggest IPP in Indonesia.

The Paiton 3 project is being constructed under a fixed-price contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. of Japan, the main equipment supplier. The plant will be operated by PT IPMOMI, the operator for the existing Paiton plant, in which International Power has a 59.5% interest. IPMOMI has a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with PT PLN.

IPMOMI?s other stakeholders are Mitsui 25.5%, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) 15%.

PT Paiton Energy, the company operating the existing 1,365MW coal-fired plant at Paiton, is owned by International Power 40.5%, Mitsui 40.5%, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) 14%, and local Indonesian company, PT BHP 5%.(denny)