Tuesday, July 8, 2008
U.S. Firm Mulls Building Geothermal Power Plant from Sidoarjo Mudflow
Source: The Jakarta Post

A U.S.-based consortium Vlocity Holding Inc. said it plans to build a 2000-Megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant from the Sidoarjo mudflow.

Vlocity director Taswin Tarib said his consortium could invest US$5 billion in the project should the government agree with the plan.

"Our plan looked feasible as the Sidoarjo mudflow temperature could reach 40 to 60 Celsius degree daily," he said.

The electricity from the mudflow would be later sold to the State Electricity Firm (PLN) at 2-3 euro cents per kilowatt hour, Taswin said.

The power plant could also create some 2,500 jobs for Indonesians, he said, adding that the plan had been presented to Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Vice president special expert staff Alwi Hamu said the vice president had given a green signal to conduct an analysis of the power plant proposal.