Indonesia’s Bosowa Group see’s first coal plant come online, with second to follow

Bosowa Group, a Makassar-based conglomerate with diversified business interests, inaugurated its first power plant in South Sulawesi, maintaining the company’s commitment to develop eastern Indonesia.

The coal-fueled plant is valued at $250 million and features two 125-megawatt turbines. Located in Punagaya village in Jeneponto district, it will boost the electricity supply for South Sulawesi capital Makassar and surrounding areas.

“Makassar will become one of the best cities that can provide adequate supply of electricity and good infrastructure in the country,” said Erwin Aksa, president director of Bosowa Corporation, the holding company of the group.

The inauguration was attended by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik, former Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla and Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Liu Jianchao. Bosowa invited reporters including one from the Jakarta Globe to the ceremony.

The plant was built by Bosowa Energy in cooperation with Sumber Energi Sakti Prima, which is engaged in the energy and mining sectors.

Erwin, who is also the president director of Bosowa Energy, said the plant will help state utility company Perusahaan Listrik Negara save Rp 4 trillion ($424 million) in fuel costs in the region.

PLN previously relied on a diesel-powered plant to serve Makassar.

Bosowa Group said in a press release that it has secured a deal to sell 200 MW of electricity to PLN at 5.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. This price excludes the cost of procuring coal. The remaining output will be used as reserves by PLN in case it needs additional power.

In addition to helping meet an increasing demand for electricity in South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi, Bosowa’s power plant will help support increasing demand for electricity in South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi.

In August, Bosowa announced it was successful in testing firing and steam blowing for the two turbines in the 250 MW plant, making it fully operational.

The construction of the plant took 19 months to complete in March, well ahead of the planned schedule of 30 months. Bosowa plans to build a second power plant with two 125-MW turbines, costing around $300 million and to be located next to the group’s existing coal-fired plants in Jeneponto.