Riau will rely on mine-mouth power plant in future

The uncertainty in the existing hydro power plant, PLTA Koto Panjang, will make Riau to rely much on the operation of its planned mine-mouth power plant to meet the future demand of the electricity in the province, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

The hydropower Koto Panjang which supplies most of the electricity needs in the province is facing more uncertainty due to the instability of the water level of the river which is used to operate the power plant. In the past this kind of problem has never existed. But now, the instability of the river level has become a major problem.

If the problem continues, Riau will rely on the mine-mouth power plant which will be built in Pranap, Indra Giri Hilir regency. It is called the mine-mouth power plant because it will be built right on the Pranap coalmine area. The plant will use the low-calorie coal as its fuel.

The mine-mouth power plant which will have a generating capacity of 2 x 250 MW will be built the provincial administration of Riau in cooperation with PLN?s subsidiary Indonesia Power and state-owned coal company PT Tambang Batu Bara Bukit Asam which owns the coal mining area.

The cooperation agreement of the power plant was signed recently. The coal that will be used to feed the plant will be taken from the 500-hectare coal mining area in Pranap. The area has proven coal reserve of about 1 billion tons. The power plant needs about three million tons a year to support the operation of its 2 x 250 MW ?capacity generating units.

With the coal reserve of more than 1 billion tons, the generating capacity of the power plant can be increased to 5 x 600 MW. With such a capacity, part of the electricity from the mine-mouth power plant will be also supplied to the Sumatra power grid to help cope with the shortage of power in other parts of Sumatra, and also to be sold to Malaysia.(*)