A consortium between the technology group Wärtsilä and an Indonesian construction company, PT PP (Persero) Tbk, has been contracted to supply five power plants, totalling 255MW, to PT PLN, the Indonesian state utility. The consortium will be responsible for the complete engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the projects, and will also operate and maintain the power plants for a five-year period.
The five plants are covered by two separate orders. One order comprises four modular gas cube power plants, totalling 115 MW. The gas cubes will be located in Ternate, Nabire, Bontang and Flores. The second order, a 140 MW power plant, will be located in Bangkanai, in Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. All five power plants include Wärtsilä 34DF engines capable of running on multiple fuels, such as liquid fuels and natural gas. This significantly increases the operational flexibility and reliability of the plants. The four gas cube power plants are scheduled to be operational in late 2017 and early 2018, and the Bangkanai plant in late 2018. The orders have been booked in the first quarter of 2017.
The four gas cube power plants are part of a public tender announced by PT PLN last year, and they will provide flexible baseload power to the Indonesian grid. Wärtsilä announced the award of a contract for two similar plant deliveries in December 2016. The Wärtsilä gas cube is a ready-to-use, pre-engineered, modular power plant package especially designed for fast-track delivery with minimal site work. In addition to the short installation time, it can also be easily dismantled and re-installed in another location if required.
The 140MW Bangkanai phase II power plant will complement an existing Wärtsilä-built gas power plant located in the middle of jungle terrain in Bangkanai. The two plants will have a key role in producing electricity for the Kalimantan grid and helping to meet the area’s growing electricity demand.
Wärtsilä will take on the daily operation and maintenance of these five power plants, to optimise the performance and production lifecycle of the installations. The five-year operations and maintenance agreement includes expertise areas such as recruitment, management and training of local personnel, technical support, maintenance planning, performance monitoring and logistics management, as well as preventive and predictive maintenance to meet local health, safety and environmental requirements.
"These contracts showcase the strength of our relationship with the state utility, PT PLN. The customer values our EPC capability and comprehensive O&M offering. The Bangkanai plant is located in a rather demanding environment and PT PLN knows that we can deliver an EPC on-time, even in such tough conditions. The operations & maintenance agreement supports efficient plant performance and profitability; we can maximise the lifetime of these installations and ensure their availability in a challenging environment." says Frederic Carron, Regional Director at Wärtsilä.
Wärtsilä and PT PLN have a long and healthy business relationship. The two parties recently signed a MoU to build and develop power generation projects in Indonesia. Wärtsilä’s installed capacity in Indonesia will exceed 3.4GW during 2017.