Raising Calls for Smelting Companies To Use Renewable Energy
A number of nickel smelters are facing electricity deficit in their operations due to the limited power supply from state electricity firm PT PLN and also the raising calls for the smelting companies to use renewable energy sources. The latest development as per September 2022:
PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), Central Sulawesi Province, has secured the required land and permit for a planned 150MW solar power plant to replace part of the existing coal power plants at the estate. “The government has given us a permit to use 150 ha of post-mining land to build this project. Currently, we are still in the early stages and we will immediately start on the next step. We hope that this project can replace some of the coal-fired power plants that are still operating in Morowali,” Alexander Barus, IMIP’s CEO said. The intention to build the solar power facility comes as nickel customers, particularly in Europe, demand that the metals be produced in environmentally friendly operations.
Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company (Huayou) will collaborate with three companies including two Indonesian firms to develop a gas-fired power plant to support the operation of its HPAL smelter in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi Province. Huayou through its Hong Kong-based subsidiary Huayou International Mining signed on 16 September MOUs with China’s SPIC Guangxi Electric Power, Indonesia’s state-owned power producer PT Indonesia Power, and PT PGN in relation to the planned gas power station. No further details about the gas power plant project were provided. Huayou is teaming up with PT Vale Indonesia to develop HPAL smelter with installed production capacity of 120,000 tons per annum of nickel in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), which can be further processed into battery materials. The HPAL plant is targeted to be completed in 2025.
PT AMMAN Mineral Nusa Tenggara (AMMAN) appointed Jurong Engineering Limited (JEL) to procure and PT Jurong Engineering Lestari (PT JEL) to procure and construct lump sum turnkey engineering for the Green-1 Combined Cycle Power Plant (BHCCPP-1) project which gas-based or Gas Power Plant (PLTG). The BHCCPP-1 will be built as part of AMMAN’s strategy to increase electricity supply to support growing operations – including mining, processing and smelting – in West Sumbawa Regency, West Nusa Tenggara Province. The plant configuration is two blocks consisting of three gas turbine generators, three heat recovery steam generators and one steam turbine. Its thermal efficiency will be one of the highest in the region for industrial power generation. JEL will be the supplier of equipment and related offshore service providers for gas-based power plants that will generate 450 MW (gross). JEL’s scope of work consists of the supply and delivery of major equipment and engineering for the plant. Meanwhile, as the construction and commissioning contractor for the project, AMMAN appointed PT JEL.
The consortium of PT Vale Indonesia, TISCO and Shandong Xinhai Technology plans to build a gas power plant with a capacity of 500 MW for its RKEF smelter in Bahadopi Block with a planned production capacity of 73,000-80,000 metric tons of ferronickel. The investment requirement for the Bahodopi smelter project is estimated around USD 2.1 billion. This figure includes investment for infrastructure construction for LNG which is planned to be used as a source of energy for the Bahodopi smelter, including the gas power plant which will process the LNG into electric power. Currently, Vale Indonesia and partners are still discussing the LNG supply with the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas).
PT Pertamina Gas Niaga (PTGN) is currently finalizing talks with 10 nickel smelter operators in Sulawesi over LNG supply. The massive development of nickel smelters in the key nickel-producing region of Sulawesi has provided new opportunities for PTGN, a subsidiary of state-owned electricity firm PT Pertamina, to supply LNG, which is considered as a cleaner energy than coal. In October 2021, PTGN started maiden LNG supply via ISO Tank from the Badak NGL Terminal in East Kalimantan to a smelter owned by PT Obsidian Stainless Steel in Konawe, South Sulawesi Province, under a 22-year LNG supply contract.
