PGE hopes to start operation of Karaha unit 1 project in November

By Febry Silaban

Petromindo|Lucky

PT Pertamina Geothermal Energi (PGE), a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, hopes to be able to reach commercial operation date (COD) status for the unit 1 of the Karaha geothermal power plant (PLTP) project in West Java, in November of this year.

The company initially set a target for the power plant project to start operation in December of last year, but was postponed to March 2017, and then was postponed again to December of this year.

?God willing, we are still confident that the COD target for the Karaha-1 will be reached in November 2017,? PGE President Director Irfan Zainuddin told Petromindo.com.

Irfan said earlier, the company has allocated investment worth US$398.9 million including for PLTP Karaha unit 1 and PLTP Ulubelu unit 4 in Lampung, which he said were expected to start operation in the first semester of this year. Once the two projects start operation, PGE?s installed power capacity will increase to 617 MW.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak