By Emi Urabe, Tsuyoshi Inajima & Fitri Wulandari - 2013-10-04T06:52:06Z
Japan’s Electric Power Development Co. (9513), Itochu Corp. (8001) and Indonesia’s PT Adaro Energy (ADRO) further delayed the schedule for
securing financing for their $4 billion coal-fired power plant in Indonesia.
The group pushed
back the deadline by a year to October 2014 after it faced delays acquiring
land, Junichiro Hoshino, a Tokyo-based spokesman at Electric Power Development,
or J-Power, said in a phone interview today. They have acquired more than 80
percent of land needed for the 2,000-megawatt power plant in Batang, Central
Java, he said. Company officials at Itochu in Tokyo and Adaro in Jakarta were
unable to comment immediately when contacted by phone today.
The companies
last year postponed construction of the power plant, which was originally scheduled
to start in October 2012, amid environmental assessments and local opposition.
Further delays will be a setback for Indonesia’s
plans to get more of its domestic power from lower-quality coal grades. The
Batang plant, which would be Indonesia’s biggest independent electricity
supplier, is part of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strategy to increase
exports of technology to improve the efficiency of power from coal.
“Construction
will experience a delay as it still needs time to complete land acquisition,”
Jarman, the director general of electricity at the Energy and Mineral Resources
Ministry who goes by only one name, said in a message yesterday.
The companies
agreed in October 2011 to build the plant, fuel it with Indonesia’s
lower-quality coal and supply electricity for 25 years to PT Perusahaan Listrik
Negara, Indonesia’s state-owned power generator.
Electric Power
Development and Adaro each own 34 percent of the venture, known as PT Bhimasena
Power Indonesia. Itochu, a Japanese trading company, has the remaining 32
percent stake.
The first
1,000-megawatt unit at the plant was originally scheduled to start commercial
operation in late 2016, followed by the second unit in mid 2017, the three
companies said in a joint statement in October 2011. It
would be the first plant in Indonesia to use “advanced environmentally
friendly, ultra-supercritical technology,” they said at the time.
To contact the
reporters on this story: Emi Urabe in Tokyo at eurabe@bloomberg.net;
Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at tinajima@bloomberg.net; Fitri Wulandari
in Jakarta at fwulandari@bloomberg.net
To contact the
editors responsible for this story: Katrina Nicholas at knicholas2@bloomberg.net;
Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
Sources : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-04/j-power-partners-delay-4-billion-indonesia-coal-power-plant.html
