Pertamina-PLN to Sign Geothermal Power Purchase Agreement

Jakarta (Antara) - State companies PT Pertamina and PT PLN will sign a geothermal power purchase agreement (PPA) involving a number of geothermal power projects, a minister said on Thursday. Under the agreement power utility company PLN will buy at agreed prices power generated from 8 geothermal power plants to be built by oil and gas company Pertamina, Minister for State Enterprises Dahlan Iskan said. The two state companies have agreed to sign the PPA on Monday next week , Dahlan said. He said agreement has been reached on power price from 8 of 9 geothermal power projects to be built by Pertamina. The 8 projects include PLTP Lumut Balai 1-2 with a capacity of 110 megawatt , PLTP Lumut Balai 3-4 with a capacity of 110 MW , 110-MW PLTP Hulu Lais and 55-MW PLTP Sungai Penuh in Sumatra, PLTP Lahendong with a capacity of 40 MW in Manado, 30-MW PLTP Kamojang and 50-MW PLTP Karaha in West Java. and the PLTP Ulu Belu with a capacity of 110 MW. Construction of the geothermal power projects being built and to be built with a total investment of Rp15 trillion and total capacity of 600 MW has been delayed over difficulty in reaching price agreement, Dahlan said. Pertamina offered a price of 9.7 US cents per kwh and PLN wanted a lower price at 9.1 US cents /kwh. He said he was pleased that an agreement was finally reached that work could be resumed or started, adding , there was no reason not to reach an agreement. "Indonesia has the largest geothermal reserves in the world and Pertamina has money to exploit the resource with PLN as the buyer of power," he said. (*)