Indonesia sees 20 pct of coal power plants by 2009

JAKARTA, July 29 (Reuters) - Indonesia's state power firm, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), is set to bring on stream 2,000 megawatts of new power plants in 2009, or a fifth of a crash plan to build coal-fired plants, an official said on Tuesday.

PLN has around 24,000 MW generating capacity but daily output is well below that due to old and inefficient plants, while demand is growing at 10 percent a year, threatening the sort of power crisis that has hit China and India in recent years.

Some experts have said the 98 trillion rupiah ($10.74 billion) plan to boost the capacity of PLN, Indonesia's monopoly power supplier, by 10,000 MW by 2010 is well behind schedule.

"If you are asking whether it will be on schedule, what we can say is around 20 percent of the projects, or about 2,000 MW, will be completed by 2009," Yogo Pratomo, the head of the fast-track project, told reporters.

"(But) by 2010 we are expecting all of them to be completed," he added at an announcement for 10 trillion rupiah of new syndicated loans from local banks for the project.

The loans -- from PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BBRI.JK), PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (BBNI.JK), PT Bank Mega Tbk (MEGA.JK) and PT Bank Bukopin Tbk (BBKP.JK) -- are for 13 coal-fired power plants, four on Java and nine outside.

Out of the total, Bank Negara Indonesia will lend around 1.37 trillion rupiah, Bank Mega 4.61 trillion rupiah and Bank Rakyat Indonesia $144.28 million.

Southeast Asia's top economy frequently suffers blackouts as its power grid has a power margin reserve of only about 20 percent, instead of 30 percent to secure supplies.

Disruptions in coal shipments, or for repairs, have also caused blackouts in Java and Bali, the two main commercial islands, in recent months.

To cope with the shortages, authorities are forcing some manufacturers to shift production to weekends to cut peak demand in the week prompting anger from some business groups.

In a separate interview on Monday, Pratomo told Reuters that there were no plans to renegotiate any of the projects in the programme, although he said there had been some problems.

"This is a fast-track programme that in the beginning had some problems with financing, some problems with also how to coordinate with other bureaucracies, about the environment, about the other issues such as relocation," he said.

He noted that in southern Java two projects -- Palabuhan Ratu and Pacitan -- had to have their sites investigated for potential geological problems causing some delays.

He said the current 10,000 MW programme would only be sufficient to meet capacity by 2011.

For a second fast-track 10,000 MW programme, he said there would be a greater use of renewable energy, including geothermal and hydro, with only 4,000 MW of coal-fired plants. (Additional reporting by Muklis Ali and Ed Davies) (Reporting by Muhamad Al Azhari; Editing by Ed Davies)