PLN is ready to buy electricity from geothermal power plants

State electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said that it is ready to buy electricity from geothermal power plants developed by independent power producers (IPPs) as long as it meets all the existing requirements set by the state electricity company.

The company?s spokesman Bambang Dwiyanto said in Jakarta on Sunday that PLN would buy electricity from geothermal power plants, either developed under business-to-business deal with PLN or built as part of the government?s program.

However, the purchase should be based on a transparent sales and purchase agreement. Otherwise, PLN would find it difficult to carry out the purchase, he added.

The problem, according to him, is on power purchases from geothermal power plants developed under the government?s program because the negotiations on the prices did not involve PLN, he added. ?Therefore PLN will not be able to sign a power purchase agreement if the negotiations on the price did not involve PLN,? he added.

Luluk Sumiarso, the director general of renewable energy at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry had recently acknowledged the problems in the development of the geothermal power plants. To solve the problems, he promised to make a breakthrough to ensure that PLN would be able to carry out to fulfill its obligation to buy electricity from geothermal power plants built under the government?s program. (*)