Risjadson, PLN seal power deal
JAKARTA (JP): A consortium of the Risjadson Group, which will establish two coal-fired steam power plants with a total capacity of 310 megawatts (MW), yesterday signed agreements with state- owned electricity company PT PLN on the sales of electricity.
The coal-generated power plants, which will be built starting in early 1997 with a total investment of Rp 1.2 trillion (US$521.74 million), will be located in Sibolga, North Sumatra, and in Amurang, North Sulawesi.
Yesterday's agreements were signed by the president of the Transmega Ekacipta Corp. developing consortium, Judiono Tosin; the president of the Primarindo Finance Corp. financing consortium, Rizal Risjad; and the executive president of PT Tenaga Listrik Sibolga and PT Tenaga Listrik Amurang, Abdul Rachman Ramly. Meanwhile, the signatory from the consumer's side was PLN's president, Djiteng Marsudi.
The members of the private consortium are all subsidiaries of the Risjadson Group.
According to the leader of the government's negotiation team for power-purchase agreements, Ermansyah Jamin, the two projects will be financed with domestic investments, which gained approval from the Investment Coordinating Board in March.
The construction of the steam power plants will be conducted under a build-own-operate scheme with a contract period of 30 years.
Price
The negotiations, which ended last October, concluded that PT Tenaga Listrik Amurang's coal-fired power plant will start operating in 1999 and its electricity will be sold to PLN at an average price of 6.7 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). The price is inclusive of transmission costs and other fees. The Amurang plant will consist of two units, each with a capacity of 55 MW.
The electricity to be generated by PT Tenaga Listrik Sibolga -- which will be called the Sibolga "A" plant and consist of two units with a capacity of 100 MW each -- will be sold to PLN at 6.55 cents per kWh. The price includes the costs for operating a "circulating fluidized bed" which guarantees clean coal technology and keeps emission at a permissible level.
For comparison, the 2,400 MW Paiton II steam power plant in East Java will sell its electricity to PLN at 6.6 cents per kWh, while the 500 MW Grati plant -- also in East Java -- will be selling at 5.88 cents per kWh.
Risjadson Group's owner, Ibrahim Risjad, told reporters after yesterday's signing ceremony that the two projects will have local contents of at least 35 percent.
The Amurang power plant will be built with an investment of Rp 490.5 billion and the Sibolga "A" plant with Rp 676.13 billion. Ibrahim said that 25 percent of the investments will be financed with equity and 75 percent with loans from domestic banks.
He said that a syndication of domestic private banks, including Bank Niaga, Bank PDFCI and Bank Exim, will provide the loans. But details of the financing scheme has yet to be made and the formulation of the terms is expected for completion by the end of this year.
Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana, who witnessed yesterday's signing, said the two projects will bring up the total number of private power plants in the country to six.
The others include the Paiton I (1,230 MW), Tanjung Jati "B" (1,320 MW), Paiton II (1,220 MW) and Sengkang (135 MW) power plants.
Sudjana yesterday emphasized the importance of the private sector in helping the government provide energy for Indonesia's booming economy.
Indonesia's energy consumption is expected to increase by 15 to 17 percent per annum to prop up the average growth target of 7 percent a year.
To meet this huge energy demand, some Rp 5 billion to Rp 6 billion per annum is needed, part of which is expected to come from the private sector, Sudjana said.
The contribution of the private sector, he added, did not necessarily have to be limited to large-scale projects but could be in the form of small and medium-scale power plants, which have a maximum capacity of 30 MW in Java and 15 MW outside Java. (pwn)
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