Sep 7 2010
TATA Power, a private power utility company from India, has announced the formation of a consortium for developing a 240 MW geothermal power project located in Indonesia. The consortium named as PT Sorik Marapi Geothermal Power will include TATA Power, PT Supraco Indonesia and Australian electricity retailer Origin Energy as its participants.
The project located in northern part of Sumatra is expected to require a capital funding of around 2900 to 3800 crore Indian rupees. The project also received biddings from global geothermal major companies such as Chevron and PT Medco Energi Internasional. The TATA Power led consortium is planning to complete the project by the year 2015.
Banamali Agarwala, Executive Director of TATA Power, said that his company is interested in participating in other geothermal projects that are to be launched by the Indonesian government shortly. He added that his company is also trying to explore geothermal opportunities in countries such as US, New Zealand and Philippines. He further said that his company is examining the potency of geothermal energy in growing renewable energy segments and it is dedicated to its investments made in the geothermal energy sector in Indonesia. He concluded saying that currently his company is concentrating only in its Indonesian project.
Earlier TATA Power had joined in partnership with a few companies with an equity stake in geothermal energy development. The company holds 10% equity in Geodynamics, an Australian based company that has specialized in geothermal exploration.