KOTABARU, South Kalimantan: The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources plans to build a coal gas fired power plant (PLTGB) in the district of Kotabaru, South Kalimantan, AntaranewsKalsel reported.
Acting Head of the local Board of Development Planning (Bappeda) Zainal Arifin here on Monday said Kotabaru as coal producing district was appointed by the central government as a pilot project of PLTGB. “The appointment has been from the beginning of 2016,” he said.
Zainal said in the long term there are various mega-projects in the “Earth Saijaan” (Kotabaru) which will impact on the increasing demand for electricity, such as construction of Pulau Laut-Kalimantan mainland bridge and Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Mekar Putih.
For the construction of PLTGB, the district government has prepared land, an area of 10 hectares, beside steam-fueled power plant (PLTU) Sigam in Sigam Village, North Pulau Laut.
“In the early stages PLTGB to be built with a capacity of 3 MW and land needed only 2 hectares. The land is ready, there should be no exemptions,” he said.
With the additional power of 3 MW, Zainal continued, is still relatively small to meet the electricity demand in Kotabaru. Kotabaru relies solely on diesel power plant (PLTD) with a capacity of 4 MW. While the electricity needs currently 7 MW, so there are areas still unelectrized.