Indonesia's PLN signs deal on 1,200 MW power plant http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-11-01T073431Z_01_JAK309933_RTRIDST_0_ENERGY-INDONESIA-POWER.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
Wed Nov 1, 2006
JAKARTA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Indonesia state electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) signed a preliminary deal with U.S. energy firm AES Corp. (AES.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Japanese trading firm Sojitz (2768.T: Quote, NEWS, Research) and local firm PT Triaryani to build a 1,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant, the energy minister said on Wednesday.
The cost of the project, to be located in South Sumatra, in the west of the archipelago, is estimated at about $1.5 billion.
"PLN will have further negotiation on the electricity price that will be supplied by those companies," Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the energy minister, told reporters after the signing ceremony during the country's second major infrastructure meeting in Jakarta.
He did not say when the plant was due to start production.
Indonesia, struggling to cope with electricity shortages, has said it will speed up the construction of power plants to add 10,000 megawatts of generating capacity between 2006 and 2010, as the world's fourth most populous country tries to catch up with rising electricity demand. Indonesian officials have said domestic electricity demand is growing around 10 percent a year.
PLN operates 24,000 MW of generation capacity currently, but most of its plants are ageing, so daily output is far below capacity.
Indonesia, Asia's only OPEC member, is tapping alternative sources of energy such as coal and natural gas for power generation to cut down on consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.
Some 30 percent of the plants use oil products such as diesel and fuel oil. Coal and natural gas dominate in the others.
((Reporting by Muklis Ali, editing by Sugita Katyal; Reuters Messaging: muklis.ali.reuters.com at reuters.net; +6221 384 6364))
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