Darajat Geothermal Power Plant

active

Amoseas Indonesia, a subsidary of ChevronTexaco Energy Indonesia Ltd. (CTEI), a joint venture of U.S. oil and gas giants Chevron and Texaco, along with its 5% local partner, Darajat Geothermal Indonesia, were initially awarded the contract to construct, own and operate a 55 MW geothermal facility in West Java in early 1996. CTEI was to have a 95 percent stake in the project, with the remaining 5 percent held by the local Darajat Geothermal Indonesia. The first phase of the project (55 MW) had a cost of US$125 million and was financed with the sponsors internal resources. Construction works on this first phase started in 1997 and were concluded in 1999. The power produced by the plant was sold to the Indonesian state power company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and PERTAMINA under a 40-year power purchase agreement. The second phase of the project was 70MW and began operations in 2000. The government put on hold many of the independent power producer (IPP) projects in late 1997 as part of the retrenchment program to cope with the economic crisis. PLN, which was financially troubled by the crisis, asked to renegotiate the PPAs, especially with regards the price. In 2003, 14 of the 26 IPPs, including Darajat, agreed to continue their projects under a new pricing scheme, while seven agreed to terminate the PPAs. The government and PLN each agreed to take over two projects. In May of 2004, PLN signed a new 30-year power purchase agreement with Amoseas Indonesia based on an offtake price of US0.042 per kWh for a new phase III extension project. CTEI was to expand the Darajat geothermal power plant by building a new 110 megawatt unit costing US$128 million. In October 2004, CTEI awarded the Darajat III Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract to the consortium of Indonesian firm PT Thiess Contractors Indonesia and Japanese firm Kanematsu Corporation. Darajat III became operational in August 2007, bringing the total plant output to 255 MW.