Indonesia to Replace Gas Exports to Singapore with 3,000 Megawatts of Power

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Indonesia's gas exports to Singapore have caused problems for the country's industries in obtaining secure and adequate supplies of the fuel as demand grows. The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is now planning a trade- off between electrical power, gas and coal to balance the use of the energy resources and give the domestic gas consumers priority, while still servicing Singapore's power sector requirements.

Singapore will receive up to 3,000 megawatts (MW) of the 4,000 MW to be generated in Batam in the Riau Islands. The 1,000 MW of surplus power produced will be used in the Batam region.

The new power plants are likely to use coal as the main fuel feed. Indonesia has a rich coal resource, but the local market currently does not consume a large amount. The gas that has been supplied to Singapore to feed power plants will be used to fill the fast-growing industrial requirements of Java. Singapore will continue to receive Indonesian gas for non-power, industrial use, and contracts will be maintained.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry believes that private capital will be keen to fund the new power plants if the two countries can strike a deal on the sale of power. This would take any pressure off the Indonesian government, which is under budget constraints. As the distance between Batam and Singapore is only 16 kilometers, planning the efficient transmission and export of the power produced presents no challenge.

Indonesia's state power utility PLN has put its support behind the scheme to produce power for the domestic market, and Singapore and is already planning to connect a power network between Batam and Bintan to create a larger grid system. Currently, Batam has a power capacity of 320 MW, with a peak demand of 265 MW. PLN's power plants have a total capacity of 24,690 MW, of which 22% is fuelled by natural gas.

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