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PLN seeking partners to develop coal mines
In a bid to secure coal supplies, PLN plans to work directly with the coal concession owners to develop untapped reserves, PLN president director Dahlan Iskan said Sunday
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n a bid to secure coal supplies, PLN plans to work directly with the coal concession owners to develop untapped reserves, PLN president director Dahlan Iskan said Sunday.
In September 2008, PLN established the subsidiary PT PLN Batubara, aiming to acquire coal mines to ensure supply its power plants, but Dahlan Iskan said the subsidiary had encountered difficulties in securing coal concessions.
“It was too late for us to own coal mines ... Based on our observations over the past three months, all coal concessions have been assigned to other local and foreign businesses. It is also not easy for us to get mining rights [KP] because we have no resources to bribe [officials],” Dahlan said in an emailed statement.
In a bid to reduce PLN’s high dependence on other coal suppliers, the company thus sought to work with coal mine owners whose concessions had not been explored yet. “We offer direct partnerships to develop their concessions. In this venture, PLN will provide capital expenditure and royalties to KP owners,” Dahlan said.
“PLN will open a tender soon. Those offering the best royalties will win the contracts,” he said. Dahlan said PLN now was preparing the specifications for the tender, including requirements for coal volume, moisture and calorie values.
Coal has been one of major sources of energy for PLN’s power plants, especially after the launching of the first 10,000 MW fast-track project, whose power plants are all fired by coal.
PLN’s primary energy director, Nur Pamudji, said 45 percent of power produced by PLN was generated using coal. PLN would need about 30 million tons coal this year, up from about 22 million tons a year earlier, he said.
PLN’s coal demand is expected to further increase to 38 million tons in 2011, as more power plants under the first phase of the program will start operating.
On March 23, PLN secured another coal supply contract for the fast-track program’s power plants. Five suppliers (PT Bina Insan Sukses Mandiri and PT Tiramana; a consortia of PT Energi Batubara Lestari and PT Batara Batari Sinergy Nusantara; PT Anzawara Satria; a consortia of PT Selatan Selabara and PT Fajar Visikalam, and a consortia of CV Karya Banua and PT Daya Bambu Sejahtera) have agreed to supply a total of 2.7 million tons coal a year for 20 years.
The coal will be supplied for the fast-track program’s power plants outside Java Island, for example the Pangkalan Susu plant in North Sumatra, the Asam-asam plant in South Kalimantan and the Selat Panjang plant in Riau. PLN will also need more coal for the second phase of the 10,000 MW fast track program, implemented between 2010 and 2014.
Dahlan said the new scheme cooperation offered by PLN would benefit coal miners as well. “PLN will provide big market for long time period,” he said.
