Kuala Tanjung Inalum captive power station

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Kuala Tanjung Inalum captive power station is a cancelled power station in Kuala Tanjung, Sei Suka, Batubara, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Kuala Tanjung Inalum captive power station	Kuala Tanjung, Sei Suka, Batubara, North Sumatra, Indonesia	3.3506353, 99.4513321 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3: 3.3506353, 99.4513321

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	cancelled	coal - unknown	300	unknown	2023	–
Unit 2	cancelled	coal - unknown	300	unknown	2024	–
Unit 3	cancelled	coal - unknown	350	unknown	–	–

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner
Unit 1	PT Bukit Asam Tbk [100.0%]
Unit 2	PT Bukit Asam Tbk [100.0%]
Unit 3	PT Bukit Asam Tbk, PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (INALUM)

Project-level captive use details

• Captive industry use (heat or power): aluminum
• Captive industry: Power

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): South Sumatra or Riau

Background

Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), a state-owned aluminum producer, announced plans in January 2014 to build a three-unit, 600-MW, $2 billion coal-fired power plant adjacent to its aluminum factory in North Sumatra Province. A deep-sea port was recently constructed at the site, where several other industrial facilities are located.

In November 2014, Inalum upped the proposed size of the plant to three 350-MW units, or 1,050 MW in total. Inalum conducted a feasibility study together with PT Butik Asam (PBTA), having brought PBTA into the project; PTBA would supply coal to the project, while Inalum would be majority owner and would focus on that power plant's operations. The aluminum refinery would use 700 MW, and the remaining 350 MW would be sold to surrounding cities. The company hoped to tender construction of the power plant in Q2 2015, and to bring it into operation by 2020.

Coal for the plant would come from either South Sumatra or Riau, depending on the quality level of coal that Inalum decided to engineer the plant for.

In November 2014, the Jakarta Post reported that the company planned to speed up the onset of construction from mid-2015 to early 2015.

In April 2015, construction appeared imminent as hiring ads appeared for construction managers.

However, in August 2016, Inalum said that construction had been delayed from 2016 to 2017. The plant size was described as 2 x 350 MW, suggesting plans for the third 350 MW unit had been deferred or abandoned. The company said it was also exploring the possibility of moving the plant to the province of North Kalimantan, to save on electricity costs.

In September 2017, Inalum announced that it was still looking for partners with whom to build the plant. Their website provided extensive context on 2 x 350 MW plans.

In September 2018, it was reported that PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) planned on partnering with Inalum to build Units 1 and 2.

As of December 2018, there had been no further news about Unit 3 and it appeared to have been cancelled.

RUPTL Plans for Sumut-2

In the 2015-2024 PLN long-range supply plan, Sumut-2 power station was proposed for 2023/2024.

In the 2017-2026 long-range plan, it was scheduled for 2021/2022 and described as an independent power project (IPP).

In the 2018-2027 long-range plan, both units were scheduled for 2021.

In the 2019-2028 long-range plan, the units were scheduled for 2023 and 2024.

In October 2021, the plant was shelved under the government's long-range plan for 2021-2030. It was unclear what connection the project would still have to Inalum at this point.

In October 2023, with no apparent news since the project was shelved, the power station was presumed to be cancelled.

Report by Indonesia Corruption Watch

A 2020 report highlighted some of the conflicting information around the proposal:

"PLTU Sumut-2 is located in Medan, North Sumatra. The plant is managed by a consortium of PT Gama Energi Negeri and PT PJB Investasi, a subsidiary of PT Pembangkitan Jawa Bali (PJB). The plant has a capacity of 2 x 300 MW. PLTU Sumut-2 is also known as PLTU Kuala Tanjung. However, other information states that PLTU Sumut-2 or PLTU Kuala Tanjung is managed by PT Bukit Asam and PT Inalum.[footnote omitted] In addition, there is also information that the North Sumatra-2 PLTU is the Pangkalan Susu PLTU.[footnote omitted] In July 2017, PT PJB Investment signed a consortium agreement with PT Gama Energi Negeri for the development of PLTU North Sumatra 2. The portion of PT PJB Investment reached 51%. Until July 2017, when PT PJB’s financial report came out, the share subscription agreement had not been made.[footnote omitted] PT PJB Investasi (PJBI) is a subsidiary of PT Pembangkitan Jawa Bali (PJB) which was founded in 2015. 99.9% of the shares are owned by PT PJB, while the rest is owned by the PT PLN Education and Welfare Foundation.[footnote omitted]"

Inalum ownership

As of 2022, Inalum's hydropower facilities were more than 40 years old. The company reportedly replaced turbines from 2001 to 2019 at the Sigura-Gura hydro plant with more efficient technology to achieve the "optimum power output" of 286 MW (or 4 × 71.5 MW) so that hydro could continue to meet the electricity needs of the company’s Aluminum Smelting Plant in Kuala Tanjung.

Any remaining coal capacity plans connected to the Sumut-2 / Kuala Tanjung proposal may no longer be related to Inalum.

As of January 2023, Inalum was reportedly a 65% shareholder of PT Bukit Asam Tbk.

In March 2023, Inalum's mining holding operations split off from its aluminum operations into a separate company called PT Mineral Industri Indonesia.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.