PLN mulls 9 million tonnes coal import tender from 2011

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

2 Sep 2010

Indonesia's state owned utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara is considering importing at least 9 million tonnes per year of coal starting in 2011 as domestic producers are unable to fulfill domestic demand Mr Dahlan Iskan president director of PLN said that "We may import 9 million tonnes of coal next year. We are considering such an option as domestic coal producers seem unable to meet our demand. If domestic coal supply unable to fulfill our demand, we will have our own solution."
Mr Iskan said that PLN has already started informal discussions with one Australian coal producer. This move suggests that the agreement in early August with PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam has fallen through. We have secured PTBA's commitment to supply 9 million tonnes per year but the period has yet to be decided. But, at the same time we have to seek other sources for the sake of security of coal supply.
Mr Nur Pamudji primary energy director of PLN said that PLN expects to consume 40.7 million tonnes in 2011 due to additional capacity coming online under its 10,000 MW coal fired project. In 2010, the company is forecasting consumption to dip 12.7% to 26 million tonnes from an earlier estimate of 29.8 million tonnes due to a delay of the operation of its power plants.
Mr Pamudji mentioned that PLN had considered, as recently as 1 month ago, inviting bids for 9 million tonnes per year of imports to offset the lack of domestic supply to feed PLN's power plants. The government originally instructed PLN to build 10,000 MW of additional coal fired power plant capacity by 2010 to meet the country's rapid growth in electricity demand.
Mr Agung Nugroho former director of PLN said that this program deadline has since been pushed back to 2013 as it attempts to reduce its dependence on costly oil-fuelled generation. The crash development program is running three years behind schedule due to some issues including loan availability delayed progress. Indonesia estimates its electricity demand will grow at rate of 9% per year.

Source: Bx.businessweek