Amoseas to expand geothermal plant
Amoseas to expand geothermal plant
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Amoseas Indonesia, a unit of U.S.-based ChevronTexaco,
says it will start the construction of a third geothermal power
plant, to be called Darajat III in Garut, West Java, at the end
of this year as part of its expansion in Indonesia.
Bernie McCloskey, Amoseas Indonesia's president said the
company would invest up to US$110 million to build the 110-
megawatt (MW) Darajat III geothermal power plant.
"We would like to see additional development in Darajat
because it is a very strong field and, probably in the future, we
will have more than 330 MW," McCloskey told reporters during a
press conference on Monday.
Construction of the plant will start at the end of the year
and commercial power production will begin in 2006.
Darajat III represents an expansion of Amoseas's existing
geothermal power plants -- Darajat I and Darajat II-- which have
a combined capacity of 145 MW.
The geothermal field is owned by state oil and gas firm PT
Pertamina. Amoseas and Pertamina operates the field under a joint
operation contract in which Pertamina gets four percent of net
operating income.
Amoseas will sell the power produced from the plant to state-
owned power firm PT PLN to help avert a looming power shortage in
the Java-Bali power grid.
Eddie Widiono, PLN's president, said the firm agreed to buy
the electricity from Darajat at 4.93 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour
(KwH), lower than PLN's current power selling price of 6.8 U.S.
cents per KwH.
"We are seeking to develop more geothermal power plants as
despite the high cost of investment, these plants have low
maintenance costs as they use clean energy," Eddie said.
Low power plant maintenance would help stabilize power prices,
he added.
Geothermal energy is produced when groundwater
from the earth's surface flows down and meets molten magma
ascending from the earth's core in exceptionally hot
surroundings.
Geothermal is a clean fuel source with a carbon dioxide
emission rate 90 percent lower than that of oil-fired power
plants.
Sitting astride a volcano belt, Indonesia has potential
geothermal reserves of 20,000 MW but only 5 percent of this has
been developed.
McCloskey said Amoseas would study the possibility of building
a fourth Darajat unit in 2006.
However, he said the company has still to renegotiate its
existing contract with Pertamina, which stipulates that Amoseas
may only expand Darajat power capacity up to 330 MW.
The Pertamina geothermal field has reserves of 650 MW.
McCloskey said the company had invested approximately $250
million to develop this clean fuel alternative since 1984 when it
started developing the Darajat I plant.
Amoseas also aimed to seek financing for future projects by
joining the "emissions trading scheme" under the United Nations
Kyoto Protocol which support companies that develop clean energy.
"We have already applied for their support so we can trade
emission credits with developed countries," McCloskey said.
Amoseas is the first company in Indonesia to apply to
participate in the scheme, he said.