PLN to launch 3 geothermal power plants this year
Saturday, January 7 2012 - 02:08 AM WIB
The plants are the Lahendong Unit 4 plant in North Sulawesi, the Ulubelu Unit 3 and 4 plants in Lampung and the Ulumbu geothermal power plant in Manggarai regency on Flores island, East Nusa Tenggara province.
PLN renewable energy chief Muhammad Sofyan said that the Lahendong Unit 4 and Ulumbu plants would start commercial operation in February after completing testing that began in December.
?The two plants are currently conducting reliability tests for a month so that in February the plants can begin commercial operation,? Sofyan said on Friday.
The Ulumbu plant has a capacity of 2x2.5 MW. The geothermal potential at the site is estimated at 10 MW.
Lahendong Unit 4 has a capacity of 20 MW. The fourth unit will complement three currently operating units in the area, bringing total production at the site to 80 MW Geothermal development in Lahendong is run by Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE). The cost of electricity from the plant has been pegged at 4 US cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
PGE has committed to open two more 20-MW units in Lahendong by 2013. Exploration for a geothermal energy supply for the planned units was underway since 2008, before officials settled on an area in South Lahendong with an estimated potential of 220 MW.
When construction of the Unit 5 and 6 plants is completed in 2014, PGE will start construction on Unit 7 and 8. When all completed the geothermal energy supply of all the plants would total 180 MW.
In Lampung, the Ulubelu Unit 3 and 4 plants are expected to generate power of 110 MW each, bringing the site?s total production to 220MW, Sofyan said. The two units are expected to begin operating in third or fourth quarter this year. (*)