Pertamina to operate third unit at Lahendong's gothermal power plant

PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) has proposed for a change in the status of the Units V and VI of the Lahendong geothermal power plant into independent power producers (IPPs) and also to include them as part of the power plants to be built under the second stage of state-owned electricity company PLN?s fast track program.

The company?s President Director Abadi Poernomo said last week that the request for the change in the status of the two new units of the Lahendong geothermal power plant was made during a meeting at the Vice President?s office last month.

He estimated that the construction costs of the Lahendong?s Unit V and VI which will have a capacity of 2 x 20 megawatt, respectively, would reach about US$200 million.

At present, PGE only sells geothermal steam to PLN as the operator of the existing Lahendang power plants. If the change in the status is approved, PGE will operate as an IPP which will not only be responsible for the supply of the geothermal steam but also for their power production and supply.

?The fair price of the supply from a geothermal power plant should be around 9 US cent per kilo Watt hour (kWh),? Abadi said.

The existing Lahendong geothermal power plant has two power generating units (Lahendong Unit I, II), each with a capacity of 20 megawatt. Unit III with capacity of 20 MW will come onstream in the end of March this year and PGE is still preparing the construction of the Unit IV.

Abadi said that in addition to the Lahendong Unit V and VI, PGE had also proposed for the change in the status of other geothermal power projects including the 2 x 55 MW Ulubelu geothermal power plant to be built in Talang Padang, Lampung.

PGE currently has 15 geothermal concessions across Indonesia and operates geothermal power plants in Kamojang, West Java; Sibayak, North Sumatra and Lahendong, North Sulawesi which have a combined installed capacity of 252 MW. (godang)