President to inaugurate 164 MW gas power plants in S. Sumatra

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will inaugurate the operation of three gas-fired power plants in South Sumatra with a total capacity of 164 megawatts, which will ease the shortage of electricity in the province and surrounding areas.

The inauguration ceremony would be held on November 9 at the site of the Borang power plant in Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra.

Sumatra Island has been suffering rotating blackouts as the existing power plants can not meet the increasing demand of electricity.

Aside from constructing new power plants, the government is also building the Sumatra interconnection electricity system.

The three power plants are Borang (100 MW), Indralaya (50 MW) in Ogan Komering Ilir regency, and Talang Duku II (14 MW) in Musi Banyuasin regency. Total investment for the projects was around US$ 80.5 million and Rp 28.6 billion.

Gas for the power plants will be delivered from PT Medco E&P Indonesia's Kaji-Semoga, Rambutan, Teras, Lagan, Pian, and Gunung Kembang fields in South Sumatra. A total of 44.129 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) is required to fuel the power plants.

On the same occasion, President Susilo will also inaugurate the operation of a 390-km, 275-kilovolt power tranmission network connecting southern and central of Sumatra. Total investment for the transmission network is Rp 364.2 billion, provided by the Asian Development Bank.

According to PT PLN's director of primary energy and power generation Ali Herman Ibrahim, the southern and central Sumatra network will become part of the Sumatra grid now under construction.

The construction of the 1,833-km Sumatra grid is expected to be completed in 2007 with a total investment of Rp 1.25 trillion. (godang)