UBE developing gas power plant in Batam
Friday, June 1 2012 - 02:35 AM WIB
PT Universal Batam Energy (UBE), a subsidiary of PT Mitra Energy Batam, is developing a gas-fired power plant with a total capacity of 2 X 35 megawatt (MW) in Batam and is expecting to complete it in two years.
Noor Wahyu Hidayat, President Director of PT Mitra Energy Batam, which is under the control of Medco Group, said the gas supply for the power plant would be funneled from West Natuna and its development plan so far is on track. "We?ve secured the gas supply and its development plan is on track so far," he told Petromindo.com in Singapore, on the sidelines of the 6th Annual Gas Turbines organized by IBC Asia from May 28 to 31.
He said that the power plant would use the combined cycle system as it is very efficient and would only focus on using gas. "We have an alternative there to use coal. But we won?t use it. We?ll only focus on the green energy. We?ll put it under the mechanism of CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) which would give us an additional income of US$1 million per year," he said.
?As to the gas, we have enough supply there. There are natural gas, CBM (coal bed methane), and other kind of gases, even perhaps biogas, although its possibility right now is still slim,? he noted.
UBE and PT PLN Batam signed recently an agreement to set up a consortium, which would deal with the development of gas transportation from Pemping island, where there is a pipeline network linking Singapore and Natuna.
The 15 km pipeline will funnel gas from west Natuna to Batam island, where the gas will be used for electricity generation by PT PLN Batam and PT UBE, which both have a total generation capacity of over 200 Megawatt there. The pipeline is expected to be in operaton on the 4th quarter of 2013.
Both PT PLN Batam and PT UBE have separately signed gas sales agreements with Premier Oil West Natuna B.V, Natuna 1 B.V., Natuna 2 B.V., and with KUFPEC Indonesia (Natuna) B.V. on 15th April 2008 with each having a volume of 20 bbtud for 20 years.
Currently, Medco Group, through its subsidiaries, PT Mitra Energy Batam and PT Dalle Energy Batam, has a total generation capacity of 165 MW in Batam. It has planned to further increase its generation capacity in the future as Batam has seen a rapidly growing demand for electricity. Now, the demand during peak load has reached 270 MW.
?We even plan to export our electricity to Singapore. This is very likely to be materialized as it will be a project under the government to government (G to G) mechanism,? Noor said.
As for PLN Batam, it is now offering a tender to develop a 100 MW gas power plant in Batam.
Editing by David Mustakim