POWER magazine today officially announced winners of its 2017 Top Plants in the renewable power generation category. Among the five winners is Sarulla Geothermal Power Project in Indonesia.
The 330-MW Sarulla Geothermal Power Plant in Indonesia took decades to develop. Backed by a multinational financing effort along with support from the Indonesian government, the $1.6 billion project may be on track to achieve payback within nine years.
Construction kicked off in earnest in May 2014, and this March, SIL, the first 110-MW unit of the power plant, commenced commercial operation. It is “performing well,” Ormat said. Successful testing was soon completed at the second unit, NIL 1, and the unit began supplying power on October 2, 2017. The third unit, NIL 2, is under construction, and Sarulla expects that the unit will commence operation in 2018.