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PLN to operate first floating power plant before year end
State-owned electricity company PLN expects to begin operating its first floating power plant in Sulawesi before the year-end
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tate-owned electricity company PLN expects to begin operating its first floating power plant in Sulawesi before the year-end.
PLN director Amin Subekti said on Tuesday that the first barge-mounted power plant would be located in Amurang, North Sulawesi.
'In two months we expect the [floating power] barge to arrive and then we can start operations. The power plant has a capacity of 120 megawatts [MW],' Amin said.
The first barge is part of the company's plan to have several floating power plants to support power supply in various parts of the country.
Earlier this year, PLN launched open bids for a number of floating power plants, including the plant at Amurang, 240 MW to 480 MW plants in North Sumatra, 120 MW plants in South and Central Kalimantan, 60 MW plants in Kupang and Ambon and a 20 MW plant in Lombok.
The Amurang floating power barge, which can be moved to areas suffering electricity shortages, will be a dual fuel power plant.
In the beginning, however, the power plant will only use marine fuel oil (MFO) rather than gas because PLN is still working on the procurement of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies.
'All of our gas plants we are now working on are dual fuel so that there will be no more 'chicken and egg situations'. There will be no more delays in developing the plants,' he said.
Earlier in April, PLN also launched a series of tenders to seek suppliers offering complete packages of gas supply and processing facilities as part of the efforts to ensure supply for the numerous power plants to be developed under the government's ambitious 35,000 MW electricity generation project.
PLN has estimated that it will need an additional 1,100 billion British thermal units per day (bbtud) of gas when its new gas-fired power plants came on stream in 2019. The company's current gas requirement for its existing gas-fired power plants is also 1,100 bbtud.
The tender for LNG supplies is ongoing and the company has found 11 companies that meet its qualifications, according to Amin. Following the pre-qualification stage, PLN will ask the 11 companies to submit their proposals for procurement.
After the upcoming operation of the floating power barge in Amurang, PLN will work on preparing other power barges.
'We are expecting to see completion by the middle of next year,' Amin said.
As part of the government's plan to achieve an additional 35,000 MW in electricity generation capacity by 2019, PLN is currently working on numerous preparations, including a target to seal power purchase agreements with independent power producers participating in the development of the mega power project.
Deputy chairman of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's team for the acceleration of electricity projects, Agung Wicaksono, said PLN had sealed power purchase agreements for power plants of 5,900 MW capacity, still far below its target of securing agreements for the generation of 13,000 MW by the year end.
'There are a number of projects on which the company is seeking to seal power purchase agreements, such as the Java 5 and Java 7 power plants that have 2,000 MW in capacity each and another 2,000 MW power plant in Cirebon [West Java],' Agung has said.
