PLN seeks coal supplies

PLN seeks coal supplies

JAKARTA: State electricity firm PT PLN is seeking to submit a bid to supply as much as two million metric tons of coal a year to the country's biggest power plant after an existing contract expires later this year.

PT Indonesia Power, operator of the PLTU Suralaya plant in western Java, is seeking bids from Indonesian miners to supply coal over four years starting in 2006, Achmad Sadikin, Indonesia Power's director of operations, said on Tuesday.

"The coal is to replace the supply from PT Kideco Jaya Agung that expires by the end of this year," Sadikin said.

Indonesia Power has received initial bids from 40 companies, Sadikin said. Bids can be submitted as late as June 15, he said.

The Suralaya plant, which has capacity of 3,400 megawatts, uses 14 million tons of coal a year. It has contracts to buy coal from state-controlled PT Batubara Bukit Asam, PT Adaro Indonesia, a unit of Australia's New Hope Corp., and PT Berau Coal.-- Bloomberg