PLN seeks to acquire coal mines this year

By Nova Farida

Petromindo

State-owned electricity firm PT PLN hopes to be able to soon realize its plan to acquire coal mines to help ensure future coal supply as it expands the number of coal-fired power plants as part of the government?s 35,000 MW program.

Supangkat Iwan Santoso, Director 2 of Strategic Procurement at PLN, said the company hopes to be able to strike deals with coal miners this month or next. ?Hopefully in August or September, there are (coal) companies which will be ready to give certainty. We can?t disclose the name of the coal miners yet because price agreement has yet to be reached,? he said.

He said that the targeted coal mines are located in Sumatra and Kalimantan, producing coal with calorific value of more than 4,000 kcal/kg. He added that PLN is aiming to have at least 50 percent ownership in the coal mines. He also said that the company currently have cash reserves of more than Rp 40 trillion to finance the acquisition.

Supangkat said that by having own coal mines, the company could have cheaper coal supply, which in turn would help lower electricity tariff.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak