Sumitomo Corporation (President and CEO: Susumu Kato; Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter, "Sumitomo") has signed a full turn-key contract (including civil work and installation) with PT. PLN (Persero), Indonesia's state-owned power company, for construction of the 20 MW Lahendong Unit 4 geothermal power station.

 

The power station is to be built in Lahendong, in Indonesia's province of North Sulawesi. The main unit―the geothermal steam turbine and generator―will be manufactured and delivered by Fuji Electric Systems, while a major Indonesian engineering company, PT Rekayasa Industri, is responsible for civil work and installation. The work is to be completed within 21.5 months in September 2011. The project will be financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB) funding as in the case of Lahendong Unit 2, the order of which Sumitomo won in 2005. For Sumitomo, the contract is its third consecutive for the construction of a geothermal power station in Lahendong, having completed Units 2 and 3.

 

Sumitomo has, in cooperation with Fuji Electric Systems and Rekayasa Industri, been focusing on geothermal power generation projects in Indonesia. The Lahendong Unit 4 project is its fifth undertaking after four in the previous five years, namely, 20 MW Lahendong Unit 2 (contract signed in October 2005), 63 MW Kamojang Unit 4 (February 2006), 117 MW Wayang Windu Unit 2 power station, which boasts the world's largest single-unit output (January 2007), and 20 MW Lahendong Unit 3 (March 2007). With this new contract, geothermal power stations delivered by Sumitomo and Fuji Electric Systems account for about 45% of all geothermal power-generating facilities signed or under construction in Indonesia.

 

Sumitomo and Fuji Electric Systems have delivered many geothermal power-generating facilities in other countries, including New Zealand, the Philippines and Iceland. Our most recent undertaking is the construction of the 132 MW Nga Awa Purua geothermal power station, signed with New Zealand's state-owned power company, Mighty River Power, in March 2008.

 

The turbine is driven by power of geothermal steam, which does not rely on conventional heat exchange in the boiler, but rather natural steam containing corrosive substances pumped from a well drilled into the ground. It thus requires turbine manufacturers to have advanced technologies, developed through extensive experience, particularly in addressing corrosion. Japanese heavy electric machinery manufacturers have expertise in turbines for geothermal power generation. Fuji Electric Systems, manufacturer of the main unit for this project, is one of the world's leaders, in terms of share, in steam turbines for geothermal generation (supplying about 40% of steam turbines in the past decade--as of November 2009).

 

Indonesia has the world's largest resources of geothermal energy. Although its estimated potential is equivalent to the total output of the country's current power generation facilities of about 27,000 MW, the present usage of geothermal energy for power generation remains at 4.5%, or 1,200 MW in terms of output. Additionally, geothermal power plants are beneficial to global environmental protection as their steam-power generation facilities, which use renewable geothermal energy, emit less CO2. Furthermore, with the recent rise in fossil fuel prices, its economic feasibility is improving compared with other power generation systems.

 

Under these circumstances, the government of Indonesia is planning to increase the total output of geothermal power generation facilities to 6,000 MW by 2020 and to 9,500 MW by 2025, for the purpose of the early development and effective use of its abundant geothermal energy. In order to realize Indonesia's plan of promoting geothermal power generation and facilities enhancement, Sumitomo will make further efforts in winning contracts for geothermal power generation projects in Indonesia, and cooperate in the economic development of the country by leveraging our considerable achievements and experience in contract execution.

 

【Reference image】 Lahendong Unit 3 geothermal power station (Completed in February 2009)

 

  

Related link

• Infrastructure Business Unit

 

Related release

• Sumitomo Corporation executed with Indonesia's Star Energy Holding's an EPC contract agreement for 1 x 117MW Wayang Windu Phase 2 Geothermal Power Project