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tate electricity company, PT PLN, will build nine more coal gas-fired power plants in eastern Indonesia in 2012, with a total capacity of 72 megawatts, in a bid to lessen dependence on oil-based fuel.

PLN’s operations director for eastern Indonesia, Vickner Sinaga, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the power plants would be built in Sulawesi, Papua and West Papua. The procurement processes will begin this year, but the developments will kick off early next year, he added.

“Currently, our company’s board of directors plans to visit a coal gas-fired power plant in West Kutai [East Kalimantan], run under the independent power producers scheme. The board will then choose and decide which technology will be used in eastern Indonesia,” he said on Wednesday.

The use of coal gas for power generation in Indonesia is relatively new.

From the 12 power plants planned for installation in the western part of the country, only two of them have worked properly, he continued. Indonesian power plants mostly use oil, coal and gas as their main fuels.

According to PLN data, the present electricity ratio in eastern Indonesia is only 56 percent; several provinces have an electricity ratio of only around 30 percent. PLN aims to add 1.1 million new customers in the area by the end of 2011.

In the western stretches of Indonesia, the situation is much better. As many as 62 percent of people have access to electricity.

As widely reported, PLN plans to set up 12 coal gas-fired power plants in Sumatra, focusing on five priority areas: Aceh with a total capacity of 18 megawatts; Riau and Riau Islands, 34 megawatts; West Sumatra, 6 megawatts; West Kalimantan, 38 megawatts; and Bangka- Belitung with 5 megawatts.

The company claimed that by using coal gas to fire power plants, it could cut electricity production costs by 50 percent, to around Rp 1,500 per kilowatt hour, from between Rp 2,500 and Rp 3,000 if the company used oil-based fuel.

This year, the Tanjung Batu coal-fired power plant in Riau islands has begun operating with a total capacity of 32.5 megawatts. In 2012, the company is targeting an additional capacity of 62.5 megawatts from coal gas-fired power plants.

Coal gasification is the process of converting solid coal into combustible gases. After purification, the gases — carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane and nitrogen — can then be used as fuel. Coal gas has the lowest emission level of all fossil fuels.

Indonesia has 21.13 billion tons of coal reserves, which will last for about 80 years, based on an excavation rate of 275 million tons per year from mining.

According to the Indonesian Coal Mining Association’s (APBI) data, the country’s coal production has grown steadily over the past several years. Production was 283 million tons in 2009, which jumped to 325 million tons last year. The association estimated that in 2011, production might reach between 345 and 370 million tons.