ABB and PT PAL join in power plant

ABB and PT PAL join in power plant

JAKARTA (JP): ABB, the international electrical engineering company, has set up a new joint venture with state-owned PT PAL Indonesia and PT Barata in East Java to expand the manufacture of power plant equipment.

The new company, to be called PT ABB Energy Systems Indonesia, will be 80 percent owned by ABB with the remaining 20 percent held by the two Indonesian companies, the ABB Group announced in a press release here yesterday.

The new company will be based in Surabaya and will initially employ about 450 people, the release added.

ABB, PAL and Barata have been cooperating since the 1980s in the manufacture of boilers. ABB also is a major contractor of power plant construction in Indonesia.

ABB said it planned to invest US$35 million in a new factory in Surabaya which, in addition to the manufacture of boilers for power utility and industrial markets, will also produce air pollution control equipment, balance-of-plant equipment and provide total services for complete power plants.

The company added that the joint venture will become ABB's main manufacturing and service center for power plant equipment in Southeast Asia.

"The new company will enable ABB to serve the rapidly growing power equipment market in Indonesia more effectively and also to provide products and total power plant services to customers in neighboring countries," it noted.

PT ABB Energy Systems Indonesia is part of ABB's worldwide power generation division employing more than 40,000 people with orders last year totaling US$10 billion.

The ABB Group itself employs around 207,000 worldwide with job orders last year reaching $32 billion, the company said.(vin)