News March 3rd, 2011
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is set to grant Indonesia a US$500m loan to help it build three geothermal power plants, according to the local newspaper Jakarta Post.
The three plants will add 185MW to the country’s power grid and will be built in Sungaipenuh in Jambi, Karaha in West Java and Mataloko in East Nusa Tenggara.
Djajang Sukarna of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry told the newspaper: “We’ll sign the deal in late 2011 and start construction of the power plants next year.”
He said Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), part of state oil and gas company Pertamina, would be responsible for the upstream operation at the Sungaipenuh power plant, while state electricity company PT PLN would take care of the downstream operation. At Karaha, PGE will take full control while Mataloko will fall under PLN’s remit.
Indonesia has traditionally been an oil exporter but is now aiming to exploit its abundant geothermal resources. The ADB is currently considering a number of proposals to assist Indonesia in expanding its geothermal production base.
Last August, the ADB approved US$1.5m to fund a project to review the steam resource assessments and preliminary steam field and power plant designs, developed by PLN and to evaluate the feasibility of the sub-projects.
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