BCPG plans Bt12-bn investment in geothermal energy in Indonesia
BCPG plans to invest in the geothermal power business in Indonesia through equity acquisition in Star Energy Group Holdings, which is engaged in geothermal power generation and steam production, with an equivalent total power production capacity of 995 megawatts.
BCPG expects the acquisition process to be completed within the second quarter of 2017 so that the project will realise profits immediately.
BCPG president Bundit Sapianchai said the company’s board of directors had on April 25 approved the investments in the geothermal power business in Indonesia, subject to final approval from shareholders.
Through the investment, BCPG will hold an indirect equity in three geothermal power projects with total power production capacity of 182MW: 20 per cent in the 347MW Wayang Windu Power Plant, (127MW of which are already in operation); 17.3 per cent in the Salak Power Plant, with a total production capacity of 377MW equivalent of electricity and steam; and 17.3 per cent in Darajat Power Plant, with a total production capacity of 271MW equivalent of electricity and steam. All the projects have long-term feed-in tariff contracts with Indonesia’s State Electricity Power.
BCPG plans to invest US$357.5 million (Bt12.34 billion) in this project. Funds will be used from the company’s cash flow, and from loans for which many leading financial institutions have already expressed interest. The acquisition process is expected to be finalised by the second quarter of 2017 and the company expects to realise profits immediately.
An extraordinary shareholders general meeting will be held on June 13 to seek final approval from the company’s shareholders.
“We strongly believe that the investment will help enhance BCPG’s long-term stability and is in line with BCPG’s business growth strategy to diversify into other forms of renewable energy and into other countries, in addition to solar and wind power businesses in Thailand, Japan, and the Philippines,” said Bundit. “As a leading renewables business from Thailand, BCPG is keen to invest in geothermal energy which is a stable resource with continuous round-the-clock supply. Moreover, BCPG can also leverage the expertise in exploration and production business of our parent company, Bangchak Corporation Public Co Ltd,” he added.
“With this investment, BCPG’s total megawatts will be over 600MW. If we were to make calculations based on the fact that the investment and production capacity of geothermal power is three times higher than that of solar power, I think we can safely say that we will have a total production capacity of almost 1,000MW of solar power equivalent.”, said Bundit.
