Indonesia to Accelerate Work on Independent Power Projects
About 50 stalled electricity generation projects involving independent power producers are set for renegotiation, as the government aims to speed them up in the first 100 days of its new term.
The government will be forming a special team consisting of representatives of the Energy and Finance Ministries, and the State Ministry for State Enterprises, the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) and state-owned power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara.
The team will commence work early next month and is expected to finish reviewing the power projects by mid-2010, Jacobus Purwono, the Energy Ministry’s director general of electricity and energy utilization, said on Monday.
Projects to be reviewed include a 50 megawatt coal-fired plant in Embalut, East Kalimantan, a 35 MW coal-fired plant in Palu, Sulawesi, a 110 MW geothermal plant in Sarulla, North Sumatra, and a 14 MW coal-fired plant on Bangka Island.
The projects were put on hold for various reasons, including disputes over how much PLN would pay for the power, how much the IPPs would pay for coal, the rising cost of construction and a lack of financing, Jacobus said.
According to data from the Energy Ministry, out of a 1995 target of 30,000 MWs of new generating capacity to be supplied by IPPs, only 14 percent of that capacity has come on stream.
Ali Herman Ibrahim, president director of PT Bakrie Power, said the company needed better tax incentives and less bureaucratic interference to finish construction of its projects, one of which is a $2 billion, 1,320 MW coal-fired plant in Cirebon, West Java, which has been delayed due to the lack of an agreement with PLN on the price it will pay for the power.
Currently, 16 IPPs contribute to the country’s electricity supply. The IPPs produce a total of 4,200 MWs of power, while PLN’s total generating capacity is 25,222 MW.
The government is also seeking to provide guarantees to companies so they can get financing to build projects that form part of the second stage of PLN’s “fast-track” program, Jacobus said.
Under the blueprint for the second stage, due for completion by 2014, PLN will build about 6,000 MW of new capacity out of the proposed 10,000 MW, with the remainder to be built by IPPs.
The program is expected to see the construction of 36 geothermal and 31 hydroelectric plants.
The government will be forming a special team consisting of representatives of the Energy and Finance Ministries, and the State Ministry for State Enterprises, the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) and state-owned power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara.
The team will commence work early next month and is expected to finish reviewing the power projects by mid-2010, Jacobus Purwono, the Energy Ministry’s director general of electricity and energy utilization, said on Monday.
Projects to be reviewed include a 50 megawatt coal-fired plant in Embalut, East Kalimantan, a 35 MW coal-fired plant in Palu, Sulawesi, a 110 MW geothermal plant in Sarulla, North Sumatra, and a 14 MW coal-fired plant on Bangka Island.
The projects were put on hold for various reasons, including disputes over how much PLN would pay for the power, how much the IPPs would pay for coal, the rising cost of construction and a lack of financing, Jacobus said.
According to data from the Energy Ministry, out of a 1995 target of 30,000 MWs of new generating capacity to be supplied by IPPs, only 14 percent of that capacity has come on stream.
Ali Herman Ibrahim, president director of PT Bakrie Power, said the company needed better tax incentives and less bureaucratic interference to finish construction of its projects, one of which is a $2 billion, 1,320 MW coal-fired plant in Cirebon, West Java, which has been delayed due to the lack of an agreement with PLN on the price it will pay for the power.
Currently, 16 IPPs contribute to the country’s electricity supply. The IPPs produce a total of 4,200 MWs of power, while PLN’s total generating capacity is 25,222 MW.
The government is also seeking to provide guarantees to companies so they can get financing to build projects that form part of the second stage of PLN’s “fast-track” program, Jacobus said.
Under the blueprint for the second stage, due for completion by 2014, PLN will build about 6,000 MW of new capacity out of the proposed 10,000 MW, with the remainder to be built by IPPs.
The program is expected to see the construction of 36 geothermal and 31 hydroelectric plants.