BCPG to invest in Indonesia geothermal power

BCPG to invest in Indonesia geothermal power

RENEWABLE-POWER company BCPG plans to invest in geothermal power business in
Indonesia through acquisition of equity in Singapore-based Star Energy Group
Holdings, with total power production capacity equivalent to 995 megawatts.

BCPG expects the sale and purchase process to be completed this quarter,
after which the projects will realise profits immediately.

BCPG president Bundit Sapianchai said that on Tuesday, the board of
directors gave its approval for the company to enter an agreement to invest
in geothermal power in Indonesia, subject to the final approval from BCPG's
shareholders.

Through the investment, BCPG will hold indirect equity in three geothermal
projects with total power-production capacity equivalent to 182MW.

The equity details are 20 per cent in the 347MW Wayang Windu Power Plant
(227MW of which is already in operation), 17.3 per cent in Salak Power
Plant, with a total production capacity of 377MW equivalent of electricity
and steam, and 17.3 per cent in Darajat Power Plant, with a total production
capacity of 271MW equivalent of electricity and steam. The latter two are
already in commercial operation.

All the projects have long-term feed-in-tariff contracts with Indonesia's
state-owned power company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

BCPG plans to invest US$357.5 million (about Bt12.3 billion) in this
project. Funds will be raised from the company's cash flow, and from loans
for which many leading financial institutions have already expressed
interest.

An extraordinary shareholders' general meeting will be held on June 13 to
seek final investment approval from the company's shareholders.

"We strongly believe that the investment will help enhance BCPG's long-term
stability and is in line with BCPG's business-growth strategy to diversify
into other forms of renewable energy and into other countries, in addition
to solar and wind power businesses in Thailand, Japan and the Philippines,"
Bundit said.

"As a leading company in renewable business from Thailand, BCPG is keen to
invest in geothermal energy, which is a stable resource with continuous
around-the-clock supply.

"Moreover, BCPG can also leverage the expertise in exploration and
production business of our parent company, Bangchak Corporation.

"With this investment, BCPG's total [production capacity] will be over
600MW. If we were to make calculations based on the fact that the investment
money and production capacity of geothermal power is three times that of
solar power, I think we can safely say that we will have a total production
capacity of almost 1,000MW of solar power equivalent."

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com