PLN builds gas-fired power plant in South Sumatra

In a bid to strengthen electricity system in southern part of Sumatra, state power producer PLN will build a 1x60 megawatt gas-fired plant in Borang area, Merah Mata village in the South Sumatra regency of Musi Banyuasin.

The ground breaking ceremony to mark the start of the construction project was led by PLN operational director for West Indonesia Harry Jaya Pahlawan on Thursday.

The Borang plant is being built as a follow up to a lease-buy agreement between PLN Southern Sumatra Generation and a consortium of PT Wijaya Karya and PT Navigat Energy. Under the scheme, Borang plant will be leased for 7 years, starting from its commercial operation. At the completion of the contract the plant will be handed over to PLN.

Construction will take about six months, covering Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and by early 2012 the Borang plant is expected to be fully operational. Apart from the Borang plant, PLN for Southern Sumatra also has other lease-buy scheme power plants, such as Payoselincah gas-fired plant with a capacity of 100 MW in Jambi and Talang Duku 60 MW gas-fired plant in Musi Banyuasin. Thus all 3 lease-buy schemes have a total capacity of 220MW

The use of gas to operate the plant will enhance electricity system and increase power supply in a more efficient way and reduce dependence on fuel. The gas-fired plants could save PLN fuel consumption by 117.73 million liter per year or Rp 918 billion.

In addition to the aforementioned total of 220MW the southern part of Sumatra will have its power supply increased by 114 MW from relocaton of gas-fired plant (14MW) and Sebalang I steam-fired plant (100MW). Therefore, in total for southern part of Sumatra PLN will have extra supply of 334 MW by early 2012 and as such the company will be better prepared to manage the power demand growth in the area. (godang/giok)