Suralaya power plant will have enough coal until December

State owned electricity firm PT Indonesia Power has finally secured coal supplies for its giant Suralaya power plant in West Java until the end of the year.

The power plant, which supplies almost 30 percent of the power needs in Java and Bali, was about to stop operation several months ago due to lack of coal supplies.

But, director general of geology and mineral resources at the ministry of energy and mineral resources Wimpy S. Tjetjep told Petromindo.com over the weekend that the ministry had ordered four coal companies, that is PT Adaro Indonesia, PT Jurong Barutama Greston, PT Kideco Jaya Agung and PT Berau Coal, to supply enough coal to the power plant to ensure that it may continue its operation smoothly until the end of the year.

Indonesia Power, which is the subsidiary of state electricity company PT PLN, earlier said that he Suralaya power plant would face a coal supply shortage of 1.2 million tons from August to December.

Wimpy said the ministry had ordered the four companies to supply the power plant with 5 percent of the government's share in their coal output.

Under the contracts, all coal contractors are obliged to deliver 13.5 percent of their coal output in royalties and taxes to the government but the companies usually pay the royalties in cash.

Wimpy said the ministry had not violated the contracts by giving such an order as under the first generation and second generation coal contracts held by the four companies, they had to deliver the government?s coal share in kind, rather than in cash.

Suralaya, which has the production capacity of 3,400 megawatts, needs 900,000 tons of coal per month. (alex/godang)