Sarulla’s first phase of development of 110 MW to be completed by the middle of 2016
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| Photo Courtesy Sarulla Operations |
Drilling operations at Indonesia’s $1.5-billion, 330 MW Sarulla geothermal power plant are progressing “at speed,” according to Hila Gantz, spokesperson for Ormat, the facility’s designer. Sarulla, in Tapanulia Utara district, North Sumatra, will be one of the world’s biggest geothermal plants when construction is completed in 2018.
Engineering, procurement and construction contractor Hyundai and drilling contractor Halliburton have reached an advanced stage in infrastructure works, according to Gantz. Halliburton, has established a number of production wells to date and is continuing with the injection wells. The gathering facilities—including pipework—for the three separate electricity-generating units and the transmission facilities connecting the units to PLN’s substation will follow. The turbines are to be supplied by Toshiba, while Ormat Technologies will supply its Ormat Energy Converters to the three units. The project will be self-operated but will benefit from technical support provided by Itochu and Kyushu for at least the initial years of operation.
Medco Power President Director Fazil Alfitri says he expects Sarulla’s first phase of development of 110 MW to be completed by the middle of 2016. “We will need to drill 30 wells in total. As many as 13 of them have been drilled before [by previous developers]. Most of the 13 wells are for the first phase of development,” he explains.
