INPEX acquires stake in Indonesian geothermal projects

INPEX Corporation has agreed with a consortium of Japanese, Indonesian and US companies to indirectly participate, by acquiring 49% of an affiliate of PT Medco Power Indonesia, in the 330 MW Sarulla Geothermal independent power producer (IPP) project in Indonesia.

The consortium is comprised of ITOCHU Corporation and Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. of Japan, Medco and Ormat Technologies of the US.

The project is the world’s largest single-contract geothermal power project. It involves constructing a geothermal power plant with a maximum capacity of 330MW in the Sarulla Geothermal Field located in North Sumatra Province, and providing generated power to Perusahaan Listrik Negara, Indonesia’s government-owned electricity company over a period of 30 years.

The power plant currently under construction is expected to initiate commercial operations in 2016, and reach an output of 330MW, equivalent to the annual consumption of 700,000 households in Japan, by 2018.

Operations in the geothermal field, owned by concession holder PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, is under development by the consortium through the subsidiaries of each participating company. These subsidiaries have jointly established Sarulla Operations Ltd, the operating company for the project. INPEX Geothermal Sarulla, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of INPEX, has acquired 49% in a Medco affiliate which controls 37.25% of the project.

The project is aligned to the second 10,000MW fast track power development program rolled out by the Indonesian government in 2010 to secure electricity supply for the country.