In line with this plan, the company has acquired 49% interest in Medco Power Indonesia’s affiliate, which owns 37.25% stake in the project.
The acquisition is part of Inpex’s strategy to explore business opportunities in renewable industry to become an integrated energy company.
Said to be the world’s largest geothermal power project, the $1.6bn Sarulla IPP is being developed by Sarulla Operations, a joint venture of Medco with 37.5%, Ormat with 12.5% and Itochu and Kyushu Electric Power each with 25% interests.
With an operational life of 30 years, the Sarulla project is planned to be fully commissioned by 2018 to serve around 700,000 households.
Indonesia’s government-owned electricity firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) will purchase the power generated from the project.
The Sarulla project is part of Indonesian Government’s second 10,000MW fast track power development program launched in 2010, to meet power demands in the region. The country is estimated to have 40% of the world’s geothermal reserves.
