By Benget Besalicto Tnb., The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will finance the construction of the Lahendong IV geothermal power plant in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, to meet local power shortages.
“We’ve agreed to provide a loan of US$40 million, which is 90 percent of the total construction cost of the geothermal power plant. Its construction will start next year and is expected to have a generating capacity of 20 megawatts (MW),” said Ayun Sundari, the director of ADB’s external relations, here on Tuesday.
Previously, ADB had given a loan of $30 million to finance the construction of the 20 MW Lahendong II geothermal power plant in the same area which was started in 2004 and completed in June 2007. Lahendong I and III, which each has a generating capacity of 20 MW, were funded by France and Japan.
She said that the geothermal funding was part of ADB’s program to help the development of renewable energy sources in Indonesia. “We’ve allocated a total fund of about $161 million for such development in Indonesia,” she said, adding that about $70 million of the fund had been spent.
The Lahendong IV plant was due to be completed in 2012 when the province’s electricity demand will be much higher than its supply. With an increase in electricity demand estimated at 8.5 percent per year, it is predicted that peak demand will reach 320 MW by 2014.
Currently, the province has a peak demand of about 140 MW while serving about 300,000 customers.
Its total installed generating capacity is 186 MW, but actual power generating capacity is only 141 MW.
There is no reserve capacity. “The province is in urgent need of new power plants to provide enough power supply for its social and economic development,” she said.
If the Lahendong capacity was fully tapped, it could meet expected peak demand, given total geothermal reserves of 340 MW, she said.
With many provinces facing power shortages, the government has initiated two accelerated programs of electricity production. The first 10,000 MW program is under way and almost completed, and second will start next year.
Under the second program, the Indonesian government plans to generate 10,000 MW of electricity, with about 4,700 MW to come from geothermal power plants across the country. Based on data from state-owned utility PLN, Indonesia has a total geothermal reserve of approximately 27,000 MW, of which about 9,600 MW in Sumatra, 5,400 MW in Java, 1,500 MW in Sulawesi, and the rest in other parts of the country.
But until now it only managed to generate 1,155 MW from 16 geothermal power plants already in operation in Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi. They are Darajat (I, II, III), Dieng I, Kamojang (I, II, III, IV), Lahendong (I, II, III), Salak (I, II), Sibayak, and Wayang (I, II).
Indonesia was expected to turn to renewable energy sources like geothermal in order to meet power shortages whilst noting the growing awareness of green principles in the international energy market.
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