P

ower company PT Indonesia Power officially opened on Friday its first diesel and gas-powered plant (PLTDG) in Bali, in an attempt to create a green energy island. The power plant is considered to be environmentally friendly, as it was cleaner and more efficient.

Built by the Wartsila Consortium, the new power plant engine replaced the previous Pesanggaran diesel power station (PLTD) in Denpasar. The new power plant, which has a maximum capacity of 200 megawatts, commenced operations in April this year.

The power plant engine has been designed to use three kinds of fuel including high-speed diesel (HSD), marine-fuel oil (MFO) and gas. In the first phase of operation, the company will use only high-speed diesel.

'€œWe expect to get a supply of gas from Bontang in the fourth quarter of this year, so that we can operate the power plant using gas,'€ said PT Indonesia Power finance director Sripeni Inten Cahyani, during a ceremony to celebrate the official opening of the power plant in Pesanggaran, Denpasar. The ceremony was also attended by Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika.

Sripeni said that the gas supply was expected to be sent through floating storage and regasification facilities at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Benoa harbor, near the power plant. '€œThe gas will be sent through the pipeline to the power plant,'€ she said.

It has been claimed that the operation of the new power plant would be able to save at least 547 kiloliters (kl) of fuel per day, from an average 2,190 kl per day to only 1,642 kl per day. '€œIt is equivalent to Rp 4 billion [US$283,540] of savings per day. This is in line with the government'€™s program to reduce fuel subsidies,'€ Sripeni said.

After the fuel has been converted into gas, Sripeni said the government would save at least Rp 400 million per day.

Aside from consuming less energy, the operation of the diesel and gas-powered plant is also expected to reduce noise, vibrations, as well as carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Data from Indonesia Power showed that emissions from the power plant were expected to decrease from 978,488 tons per year to only 694,170 tons per year due to the opening of the new power plant. '€œAnd there will be no SO2 [sulphur dioxide] emissions at all,'€ she claimed.

Sripeni said that the company was eager to boost the number of green energy power plants on the island, in support of the Bali provincial administration'€™s clean and green program.

The island'€™s electricity system has been supplied from several power plants across Bali and from Java, including two gas-powered plants (PLTG) at Pemaron in Buleleng Regency and Gilimanuk in Jembrana Regency. The two gas-powered plants, however, still use fuel in their operations.

Bali Governor Pastika welcomed the new power plant as it is in line with the government'€™s clean and green program. '€œOne of our Bali clean and green programs is green energy. It means that power plants in Bali should be environmentally friendly,'€ he said.

Pastika hoped that other power plants on the island could be converted into gas. '€œIndonesia Power may expand the greener power plants [trend] across Bali as fuel is not environmentally friendly and is not efficient,'€ he added.