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Pertamina starts operation of 30 MW Karaha Unit 1 geothermal plant

Pertamina starts operation of 30 MW Karaha Unit 1 geothermal plant Karaha Bodas geothermal power plant, West Java, Indonesia (source: Gunawan Sutrisno)
Alexander Richter 1 May 2018

Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) has announced the start of commercial operation of its 30 MW Karaha Unit 1 geothermal power plant in West Java, Indonesia.

Reported at the end of April 2018, PT Pertamina Geothermal Energi (PGE) has announced the successful commercial operation of the Karaha Unit 1 geothermal power plant in Tasikmalaya, West Java. The PLTP with a capacity of 30 MW started operations on 6 April 2018. ( COD).

“PLTP Karaha Unit 1 has been declared commercially operated or COD on April 6, 2018 with a capacity of 30 MW. This is a project undertaken by Pertamina Geothermal Energy,” said PGE Executive Director of Daily Commander, Ali Mundakir at PLTP Karaha, Tasikmalaya, Java West.

According to him, with the additional capacity of 30 MW from PLTP Karaha Unit 1, PGE has now a total geothermal power generation capacity of 617 MW. Such a capacity, he added, has led PGE to become the second largest geothermal company in Indonesia.

“With such a capacity, PGE has contributed significantly to the development of geothermal in Indonesia,” he said.

He added that the electricity PLTP Karaha Unit I will illuminate 33,000 houses in Tasikmalaya and surrounding areas. This achievement is the realization of the government’s proposed 35,000 MW program, which will improve the reliability of Java-Bali transmission systems with an additional 227 GWh of electricity per year.

As for the total investment PLarah Karaha Unit I approaching USD200 million, including drilling, piping, power plant development and transmission lines until the date of commercial operation.

“During the development of this PLTP project, PGE drilled as many as 10 wells, including injection wells and monitor wells,” he explained.

In construction, he said, PLTP Karaha Unit I is the most complete project. In which, PGE is working on its own from sub-surface, exploration, piping, powerplant to 25 kilometers of power transmission tower.

Not only that, the construction of Karaha PLTP project also provides benefits directly to the community around the project realized in the Community Development program.

In 2017, PGE Area Karaha has realized Rp830 million Community Development costs for education, social, health and economic empowerment of local communities.

As a form of community economic empowerment, PGE is currently developing independence of local coffee farmers, ranging from providing quality coffee seeds, training, to other coffee business benchmarks that have already succeeded in developing the business.

In addition to contributing to community development, PLTP Karaha also contributes greatly to the Local Income Revenue (PAD) through the deposit of Production Bonus directly to the Regional Public Cash.

In its development, PLTP Karaha also utilize clean energy and environmentally friendly.Utilization will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 202 thousand tons of CO2 per year.

With PGE’s PLTP Karaha operation, the total installed capacity of PGE is 617 MW, consisting of 235 MW of West Java’s Kamojang, Lahendong North Sulawesi 120 MW, Ulubelu Lampung 220 MW, 12 MW Sibayak North Sumatra and 30 MW of Karaha West Java.

“This year, in addition to Karaha, hopefully PGE will start commercial operation of the Lumut Balai geothermal power plant in South Sumatra with a capacity of 1×55 MW,” he said.

Source: Sindo News