110 MW geothermal plant starts up in Indonesia

Toshiba Corporation today announced that the first unit of the Sarulla geothermal power plant, one of the world's largest power plants, located in Indonesia's North Sumatra, has commenced commercial operation.

The approximately 110 MW power plant, which combines flash and binary technologies to provide a high efficiency power plant and 100% reinjection of the exploited geothermal fluid, is operated by Sarulla Operations Ltd. (SOL). As participants in the project, Toshiba supplied the geothermal steam turbines and generators (STGs) for the flash systems, while Ormat provided the conceptual design of the Geothermal Combined Cycle Unit (GCCU) power plant and supplied its Ormat Energy Converter (OEC), which serve as the condensing units for the steam turbines and utilize the separated brine for maximum resource exploitation and maximum power output. Toshiba and Ormat will continue to collaborate strategically on global promotion of highly-efficient geothermal combined cycle flash and binary systems, and both companies continue to seek to utilize and promote renewable energy globally.

Isaac Angel, Ormat’s CEO, added, “The commencement of commercial operation at Sarulla is a significant milestone for Ormat, both as an owner of SOL and as a supplier of our 25-year-proven binary technology. The Sarulla supply contract is the largest single contract that Ormat has signed to date. We manufactured and delivered our equipment ahead of schedule, mainly due to the improvements implemented across our entire value chain and to our professional teams. We continue to share our expertise as work continues on the second and third units of the Sarulla project that are expected to come on line by 2017 and 2018, respectively.”

Toshiba and Ormat have fostered a cooperative relationship through the Sarulla project. After signing a Strategic Collaboration Agreement in 2015, the companies also won orders to supply STG and OEC, respectively, for Unit 2 of the Kizildere III Geothermal Combined Cycle Unit Power Plant in Turkey. This project is now making smooth progress.