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tate-owned energy company PT Pertamina will soon carry out feasibility studies for the construction of several power plants that are expected to generate hundreds of megawatts to meet growing demand for electricity in the country.

The first feasibility study will be conducted early next year on a planned gas-fueled power plant in Java that will generate 350 megawatts (MW).

'€œThe feasibility study will take about one year, and the value of the [construction] project depends on the study,'€ Pertamina director for gas Hari Karyuliarto said recently.

Apart from the 350 MW planned project in Java, Pertamina is also planning to join a consortium to carry out an independent power producer (IPP) project in Sumatra.

Hari said that power plant could potentially generate around 150 MW.

The Sumatra power plant, which is also gas-fueled, will get its gas supply from PT Pertagas Niaga, a subsidiary of Pertamina operating in Arun, Aceh.

Pertagas Niaga, which is 99 percent owned by Pertamina, last week signed an agreement with state-owned plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (PTPN III) allowing the supply of 35 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas to the planned power plant.

PTPN III currently operates the special economic zone Sei Mangkei in North Sumatra, where the plant will be built.

Pertamina is also working on a biomass power plant, which will use waste from the Bantar Gebang waste facility in Bekasi regency, West Java. The biomass power plant will have a capacity of 120 MW and will require an estimated US$300 million in investment.

The power plant is expected to be up and running by 2016.

'€œThe Bantar Gebang project is a learning process because we are not an expert in the power plant business. The feasibility study will finish by the year'€™s end. As soon as we confirm the FID [Final Investment Decision] for the power plant, we will go ahead with the 350 MW IPP project,'€ Hari said.

The government is pushing for more power plants to use renewable energy so as to reduce
dependency on fossil fuel, which has long been the main energy source for electricity generating power plants.

Despite abundant resources, the number of renewable energy power plants in the country remains low. The country'€™s current energy capacity from biomass power plants, for example, is only a combined 75.5 MW.

Additionally, although the country enjoys lots of sunshine it only reaps 59 MW of electricity from solar power plants. The government recently put out tenders for 80 solar power plant projects that should generate a combined capacity of 140 MW.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry directorate general for renewable energy said on Tuesday that the government was aiming to add 1,174 MW in electricity from the development of hydropower plants included in the fast-track program of 10,000 MW electricity projects. Meanwhile, geothermal power generation is expected to reach 3,967 MW under the fast-track program.