Tenaga to receive coal from Indonesia mine April
Monday, January 20 2003 - 01:07 AM WIB
Tenaga's 70 percent-owned subsidiary TNB Coal International Ltd last month agreed to buy Dynamic Acres Sdn Bhd, which owns 99 percent stake at PT. Dasa Eka Jasa Tama, a South Kalimantan?based coal mining, for US$85 million. Even before the proposed acquisition, TNB's Kapar Power Station has already been using coal from the mine, which started operations in 1997.
"We hope that by March or April we should be able to get the supply from the coal mine subsidiary," Tenaga's newly appointed chairman, Awang Adek Hussin, was quoted by Bernama as saying.
Tenaga is building several coal-fired power plants to reduce its dependence on gas, which currently accounts for over 70 percent of the country's fuel for electricity generation.
One of them is the 2,100 megawatt (MW) Janamanjung power plant, located in the northern state of Perak, which is slated to start commercial production from the first of three 700 MW units early this year.
Tenaga said the plant would boost the coal component in the fuel mix from the current 12 percent to 21 percent by 2005.
Awang Adek said coal produced in excess of Tenaga's requirements would be sold in the open market.
He said the mine has estimated reserves of 35 million tonnes, which was more than the minimum 27 million tonnes required by Tenaga for a 15-20 year period.(*)