PLN unit, Japan firm tie up

JAKARTA (JP): Power company PT PLN Pembangkitan Tenaga Jawa- Bali I (PJB I) said on Thursday it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japanese power company Chubu Electric Co (CEPCO) to cooperate in improving the efficiency of its power plant in West Java.

PJB I said in a statement that under the MOU signed on May 9 this year, the two companies would conduct technical cooperation to reduce coal use at the coal-fired power plant in Suralaya.

The reduction in coal use would lead to a decrease in the carbon dioxide emissions of the power plant, it said.

PJB I is the subsidiary of state-owned electricity company PT PLN. The unit operates most of the power plants in Java and Bali, including the Suralaya power plant complex, which has seven power generation units with a combined power generation capacity of 3,400 Megawatts.

PJB I said it cooperated with CEPCO on a pilot project in 1998, in which the two companies managed to reduce coal use at one Suralaya power unit by 7,240 tons per year, cutting its carbon dioxide emissions 0.83 percent. (jsk)