PLN Batam to Bid for Singapore Rp1.4 Triillion Power Project

Jakarta - PT PLN Batam, the subsidiary of state electricity company PLN said it will take part in a tender to build a 1,000 megawatt power plant for Singapore's Energy Market Authority (EMA). PLN Batam's President Dadan Koernadipura said EMA will hold the tender next year with bidders from countries in the region such as Malaysia and Indonesia. "Currently PLN Batam is preparing its bid for the project," Dadan told ANTARA news agency here on Friday. Singapore will need the power plant to meet its power requirement of around 1,200 MW by 2017, he said. PLN Batam will build the power plant in Batam if the company wins the tender, he added. "The power output will be supplied to Singapore through submarine cable," he said. He said PT PLN Batam needs around Rp6 trillion in the next five years to build a steam powered electric plant (PLTU), a gas fired power plant (PLTG) and transmission systems. The first to be built is the PLTU with a capacity of 110 MW in 2013 to cost an estimated US$150 million (Rp1.5 trillion) to be followed with the PLTG with a capacity of 120 MW to cost around Rp1.3 trillion. In 2015, PLN Batam plans to build another PLTU and increase the capacity of the PLTG by 96 MW in 2014. Construction of the 19-kilometer transmission system will start in 2015 and additional transmission of 22 kilometers in 2016, Dana said. (*)