Jakarta, Indonesia --Media OutReach--March 13th, 2014-- 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'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.
About MAXPOWER
MAXPOWER is the “Power Generation” business unit of the Navigat Group with the other business unit being Navigat Energy an authorized Sales and Service provider for GE’s Jenbacher gas engines product line from Austria in Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. The Navigat Group is positioned as the only truly integrated distributed power project developer in South East Asia with the ability to exploit energy investment opportunities throughout the value chain from equipment sales, to services, spare parts, operation and maintenance, construction and project development to overall asset management and ownership. The Navigat Group was established in 2003 and is currently employing a team of 650+ fulltime professionals in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar and the Middle East.
MAXPOWER’s core business is developing competitive gas-to-power-solutions within the South East Asian segment, with a particular focus on the significant regions of Indonesia and Myanmar. MAXPOWER was established in 2008 and is now one of the segment leaders in Indonesia for small to medium sized gas to power projects. MAXPOWER’s Management Team and the Navigat Group Shareholders are particularly proud of MAXPOWER’s ability to cater to specific customer needs and maximise in-house capabilities to construct Power Plants in the 10 to 100 MW range within a two to six month period.
For more information: please visit the MAXPOWER website at www.maxpowergroup.com
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