Indonesia to construct 93 power plants in 2nd project

The Jakarta Post, Alfian , Jakarta | Sat, 01/30/2010 12:53 PM | Business

The government has announced its list of 93 power plants to be built under the second 10,000-megawatt (MW) power generation scheme.

"With the issuance of the decree, the bidding for the power plant procurement can now be opened," J. Purwono, the director general for electricity and energy use, said Friday.

The power plants are expected to generate up to 10,153 MW in total. Of this figure, 5,770 MW or 57 percent will go into the Java - Bali grid, while the rest will go to the other islands across the archipelago.

This second project is expected to promote the use of clean and renewable energy, but coal-fired power plants will still contribute significantly.

Of the total capacity, up to 1,204 MW (12 percent) will be generated by hydroelectric plants; 1,660 MW (16 percent) from gas combined-cycle plants; 3,977 MW (39 percent) from geothermal plants, and 3,312 MW (33 percent) from coal-fired plants.

The biggest hydroelectric plant in the project will be the 4x250-MW Upper Cisokan plant in West Java.

The biggest gas combine-cycle plant will be the expanded Muara Tawar plant, also in West Java, with total capacity of 1,200 MW.

The 1,000-MW Indramayu power plant in West Java will be the biggest of the coal-fired plants in this second phase, while the Sarulla 1 plant in North Sumatra, with expected total capacity of 3x110 MW, will be the biggest of the geothermal power plants.

Of the total 10,153 MW power expected to be generated from the project, state electricity company PT PLN is expected to generate a little more than half, or 5,118 MW.

The remaining 5,035 MW is expected to come from plants run by independent power producers (IPPs).

Although set to produce an almost equal amount of electricity, the power plants to be built by the IPPs will require double the investment that PLN's plants warrant.

Constructing all the power plants will require US$15.96 billion in investment. Of this figure, only $5.90 billion will go to PLN.

The IPPs will require a greater capital outlay as they will focus on geothermal power plants, which are far more costly than PLN's coal-fired plants.

Of the total 3,977 MW set to be generated by geothermal, IPPs are expected to contribute 3,097 MW.

The second 10,000-MW project will include the construction of 3,490 kilometers of power transmission lines, requiring $383 million in investment.

The project is expected to be finished in 2014.