Supreme Energy said it plans to start drilling activities at Muara Laboh geothermal power plant (PLTPMuara Laboh) project in West Sumatera province in May next year, following the planned signing of the power purchase agreement (PPA) with the state owned utility company PT PLN.
?If the purchase power agreement is signed this month (September), than we will start drilling wells in May 2012,? Supreme Energy President Supramu Santoso told OGE Asia magazine in an interview recently.
He estimates that the exploration cost would reach between US$70-100 millions, which will be funded from internal cash source.
Under the draft PPA, PLN will buy power from the 2x110 MW PLTP Muara Laboh power plant at the price of 9.4 US cents per kWh.
Supramu said assuming that exploration takes about two years, then the company would finish construction the Muara Laboh geothermal power plant facilities in 2015/2016.
The Muara Laboh geothermal power plant is among three geothermal power projects to be developed by Supreme Energy. The other two are in Rajabasa in Lampung province (PLTP Rajabasa) and Rantau Dedap in Semende Darat Ulu (SDU) subdistrict, Muaraenim regency in South Sumatera province.
Under the draft PPA, PLN will buy power from the 2x110 MW PLTP Rajabasa power plant at the price of 9.5 US cents per kWh, and from PLTP Rantau Dedap at 8.86 US cents.
Supreme Energy teams up with Japan's Sumitomo Corp and International Power Plc - GDF Suez, in developing the 2 x 220 megawatts geothermal potential of Muara Laboh and Rajabasa while it teams up with Japan's Marubeni Corp and International Power Plc - GDF Suez, in developing the 220 megawatts geothermal potential of Rantau Dedap in South Sumatra.
Supramu told OGE Asia that the total exploration costs for the three geothermal power plants are expected to reach US$250 million-US$300 million. All of the exploration funds will come from internal sources. He expects to get external financing when the company enters construction stage.
Supramu expects that the guarantee letter which was announced by the government in late August should speed up the development of geothermal power projects in Indonesia.
Indonesia currently has the largest geothermal energy potential in the world, estimated at 29,038 MW, found in about 276 locations across the archipelago. Most of the potential resources are located in Sumatera (13,516 MW) and Java (9,498 MW). (roffie/sonar)
