Vessel power plant enters grid in North Sulawesi

The Marine Vessel Power Plant (MVPP), imported by state owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) from Turkey, has been successfully connected to the Sulutgo power grid which supplies power to the provinces of North Sulawesi and Gorontalo.

The power plant, initially called ?MVPP Karadeniz Powership Zeynep Sultan, now ?MVPP Karadeniz Amurang Unit 6?, got connected with the Sulutgo grid at 0.30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, PLN?s Business Director for Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara regions Machnizon Masri said in a statement on Tuesday.

In the beginning, the MVPP operated at 4 MW. Barring any obstacles, the power plant will operate at full capacity of 120 MW, he said.

PLN is leasing the MVPP from a Turkish company because it is easy to be relocated to any part of the country to solve power shortage. I takes only three or four weeks to move it to new location. Furthermore, it is cheaper to operate because it may run on dual fuel, namely heavy diesel oil or gas. PLN will be able to save costs by Rp 350 billion per year using the power plant, according to the statement. The MVPP has six power units each with the capacity of 20 MW.

PLN has also successfully installed a 150 kV transmission tower linking the MVPP to the switchyard and then the Amurang substation.

PLN will also bring similar power plants to several locations including northern Sumatra (240 MW), Kupang (60 MW), Ambon (60 MW) and Lombok (60 MW).

Editing by Johannes Simbolon