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Monday, 06 October 14
' COAL-BY-WIRE' FROM SUMATRA TO JAVA - THE JAKARTA POST
 Coal from the island of Sumatra accounts for most of Indonesia’s low-grade lignite, a low-quality coal that receives a poor price in international markets.
Given this low pricing combined with high transportation costs and the fact that most reserves are located in landlocked areas, it is not feasible to export Sumatra’s coal out of the island.
It is more efficient to use Sumatra’s coal for a mine-mouth power plant, an approach in which we develop a power plant very close to where mines are located, use the low-calorie coal from the mines to feed the plant, and transmit the electricity, rather than transporting a low-value commodity, out of the mines.
With mine-mouth, we no longer require either barges or expensive railway-heavy infrastructure to transport coal; rather we need to have long-distance high-voltage transmission lines to bring “coal-by-wire” from mines to consumer centers, either regions in Sumatra and/or Java-Bali.
Essentially, with “coal-by-wire” we are transporting a higher-value commodity by wire from mines to customers. Coal stays in the landlocked areas and feeds mine-mouth, coal-fired power plants.
“Coal-by-wire” would definitely boost the development of a domestic market for low-grade coal. Today, our market for coal is very thin as we are one of the world’s leading exporters of thermal coal of a high quality in the international market.
Our exports have increased very significantly within the past decade on account of demand from fast-growing Asian economies. More than 80 percent of our coal currently produced is exported.
Indeed, coal is currently the most important source of energy for our economy. For decades coal has accounted for more than half of our power-generation capacity. And this will continue for a half century to come before alternative and cleaner energy sources other than coal become affordably available.
Our economy is also growing, and of course will require more electricity power and therefore coal – challenges that have to be met. Electricity generation now consumes close to 75 million tons per year, and will almost triple in the next 10 to 15 years.
However, domestic use of coal today notoriously suffers from infrastructure bottlenecks. Congested barges and ports, as well as a shortage of railways limit the transportation of coal from coalmines in two coal-producing regions, Kalimantan and Sumatra, to demand centers in Java-Bali, where most of our power plants are located.
The majority of our coal reserves in the two regions are located in landlocked areas that require rail transportation infrastructure to reach ports for export.
Either truck haul or rail is needed to transport the coal to barge ports and terminals.
Truck operating costs are about twice that of rail, but existing rail transportation infrastructure is severely insufficient.
Indonesia’s attempts to improve coal-transport infrastructure for the domestic market have not been very successful. Dedicated coal ports in Kalimantan have been planned for many years, but implementation has again faced bottleneck issues.
Specialized railways for coal in Sumatra have also been initiated, but this concept is still under development and has not yet received a higher-level mandate or legal authorization.
Delays in expanding the capacity of barge and transportation infrastructure cause inefficiencies and high transportation costs in domestic coal utilization. These high costs and infrastructure bottlenecks have held back the development of the domestic market for coal.
Our high-voltage transmission lines are also astonishingly limited. The state-owned electricity company (PLN) operates approximately 40,000 kilometers of transmission lines, with less than 15 percent of this total serving the island of Sumatra.
If we can build more mine-mouth, coal-fired power generation plants we will need to expand our transmission network across the island, interconnected to other transmission systems in Java-Bali.
A new set of lines of a high-voltage of 500 kilovolts and medium-voltage of 275 kV needs to be developed as a backbone network across the island, i.e. providing long-distance, reliable and stable transmission.
The distribution system and transformer capacity also need to be expanded to service a larger coverage of costumers and demand centers.
We are required also to develop an interconnected transmission system, as existing electricity transmission is not compatible across regions due to different systems and manufacturer standards adopted in the past.
The current initiative of developing inter-island interconnection lines between Java and Sumatra with 500kV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) lines needs to be completed in harmony with the mine-mouth development.
These long-distance transmission and distribution lines, as well as interconnected systems are required to exist before a system of mine-mouth power plants is commissioned to ensure that electricity produced can be transmitted in a timely manner and with minimum cost.
Both the central and local governments must work hand-in-hand to endorse incentives to encourage the private sector — independent power producers (IPPs) — to develop mine-mouth power plants.
Incentives need to be designed to enhance the financial viability of IPPs’ mine-mouth power plant projects.
PLN as an off-taker of IPP plays a fundamental role as the “coal-by-wire” agent, and has to be ready to absorb all of the risks associated with the development and operation of the system, including the difficulties in land acquisition and intra-regional compatibility of transmission systems.
Sumatra with its huge resources of low-grade coal can secure its own electricity supply and, eventually, can be the source of low-cost electricity with its energy radiating not only to Java, but also to every corner of the country.
Source: The Jakarta Post
The writer is deputy for energy and mineral resources at the office of Coordinating Economic Minister.
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Sunday, 23 November 14
ITALY'S STEAM COAL IMPORTS TO DROP BY 11% IN 2014 - ASSOCARBONI
COALspot.com: Italy’s steam coal imports expected to drop to 16 million tons in 2014 (-11% compared to 2013); coking coal imports to plunge t ...
Saturday, 22 November 14
THE FALL IN BUNKER PRICES REDUCE FUEL COSTS SIGNIFICANTLY - BIMCO, PETER SAND
For a ship that burns 24 tonnes of fuel per day while steaming, fuel costs are reduced by as much as USD 1 million a year if current price level st ...
Saturday, 22 November 14
DRY BULKERS NEWBUILDING DELIVERIES REACHED 11.8 MILLION DWT DURING THIRD QUARTER, NET FLEET GROWTH FOR 2014 TO REACH 5% - HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The dry bulk market has rebounded since its less than impressive performance since the start of the year, but overall, third quarter figures could ...
Friday, 21 November 14
BUMI ENTERS INTO CONDITIONAL SALE & PURCHASE AGREEMENT TO SELL FBS STAKE
COALspot.com: PT Bumi Resources Tbk, one of the Indonesia's largest coal producers confirms that it has executed a Conditional Sale and Purchas ...
Friday, 21 November 14
U.S LAST WEEK'S COAL PRODUCTION STAYS FLAT W-O-W
COALspot.com – United States the world's one of the largest coal producers, produced approximately 18.9 million short tons (mmst) of coal ...
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- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- The University of Queensland
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- White Energy Company Limited
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Planning Commission, India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- PTC India Limited - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Australian Coal Association
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
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