First marine supplied compressed natural gas power plant in Indonesia unveiled

It cost US$4m for development and construction.

In a release, Maxpower Indonesia, Navigat Group’s power generation business, today launches the first marine supplied compressed natural gas (“CNG”) power plant in Indonesia. 

The 6 MW plant, located on Bintan Island, cost US$4 million to develop and construction was completed in only two months. It is fully owned and operated by MAXPOWER Indonesia and was financed through shareholder loans. PT PLN (Persero) (“PLN”), the Indonesian government-owned electricity grid, fully endorsed this project and agreed to a five year offtake agreement. MAXpower Indonesia intends to invest US$65 million to replace 100MW of diesel-fired electricity in Indonesia over the next two years.

MAXpower Indonesia’s new Bintan plant will be operated with CNG supplied by PLN Batam and transported to Bintan by ship. The plant’s output, derived from two GE (“General Electric”) Jenbacher gas engines, will be supplied directly to PLN. The state-of-the-art CNG fuelled power generation technology will reduce carbon emissions by half and production costs by 35% compared to traditional diesel-fired power, enabling PLN to make annual savings of US$4.5 million from this project alone.

Commenting on the project, Sebastiaan Sauren, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Navigat Group, said: “On many Indonesian islands, electricity is primarily generated by expensive and highly polluting diesel generators, which PLN has vowed to replace. Our low-cost low-emission modular technology is perfectly adapted to the archipelago’s topography, and we plan to replicate the model across Indonesia. The opportunity in Bintan and Batam alone is a minimum of 200 MW and, given the cost savings we can provide to PLN, the economics are compelling. This is the first of many marine supplied CNG power plants; we are already working with PLN to double capacity on Bintan.”

Ardian Cholid, Commercial and Business Development Director of PLN Batam, said: “This inaugural CNG marine project represents a unique and innovative solution to bring reliable, fast, and more affordable power to Indonesia’s archipelago. This is a game-changer for Bintan, reducing diesel dependency and carbon emissions, and achieving very significant cost savings. Bintan’s new power station operates with highly efficient gas engines, and construction was completed in just two months. We view this project as a blueprint in electricity generation for the entire country.”

PLN is targeting to replace the existing 10,000 MW diesel- and oil-fired power capacity across Indonesia as soon as possible to reduce its current deficit and carbon emissions. MAXpower’s CNG technology is fully endorsed by PLN, and could serve to replace the existing 1,000 MW produced by diesel generators across multiple islands, thereby potentially generating up to US$750 million in annual savings for PLN.