Press Release

PT Bukit Asam (PTBA) celebrates its 40th birthday on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Operating for nearly a half-century, PTBA as a local coal mining company remains dedicated and keeps contributing optimally to pushing Indonesia’s economic growth and maintaining the country’s energy resilience.

PTBA’s birthday celebration is marked by the inauguration of two corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, namely the Tanjung Raja solar power plant (PLTS) and the PTBA tourist attraction in Tanjung Enim, South Sumatra.

Here are the profiles of the CSR programs:

Tanjung Raja Solar Power Plant

PTBA provides a solar-powered irrigation pump for the people in Tanjung Raja Village, Muara Enim District, Muara Enim Regency. The submersible pump is capable of moving muddy water. It has a capacity of 50 liters per second (lps) with a 30-meter head.

To be more specific, PTBA provides one unit of submersible pump, one inverter, and one intake tank sized 1.5 x 3 meters with a depth of 4 meters.

The electricity for the 11-kilowatt irrigation pump will come from a solar power plant with a capacity of 18.7 kilowatts and 140 pieces of solar panel. The irrigated land is equal to 63 hectares and is expected to have a total output of 567 tons from three harvest times a year. Previously, the output was only 189 tons from one harvest time a year.

The solar power program is part of PTBA’s expansion to the new and renewable energy sector in the past several years. PTBA has previously completed a number of significant solar projects, including the solar plant at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in cooperation with PT Angkasa Pura II, the Pesawaran solar irrigation, the Talawi solar irrigation, and the solar plant for the Az-Zawiyah Foundation in Ogan Ilir Regency.

Bukit Asam Tourist Attraction

This is a program to develop public facilities to support and realize Tanjung Enim’s vision to be a tourism hotspot. The area has numerous recreational facilities, including a coal park, arts center, meeting hall, culinary center, pool, and dancing fountain, among others.

Milestones on Bukit Asam’s 40th Birthday

PTBA’s 40th birthday feels special, not only because of the inauguration of the CSR programs but also because of the achievements of the company, which has the vision to be and is now transforming into a world-class energy firm with concerns for the environment.

“PTBA’s journey to reach where it is today is certainly not easy. Going through all storms and tests, we have proved ourselves by booking positive results and making numerous achievements, particularly during this hard time,” PTBA President Director Arviyan Arivin said during his remarks on PTBA’s 40th birthday on Tuesday, March 2, 2021.

PTBA’s production and exports keep increasing and fulfilling domestic energy needs remains the company’s priority. Even during the pandemic last year, the company was still able to book positive results and record a profit.

PTBA is realizing its tagline, “Beyond Coal”, as downstream projects to increase coal’s added value and efforts to expand its business to new and renewable energy sector have started taking place.

The Sumsel 8 coal-fired power plant (PLTU), which is set to be the biggest and the most efficient mine-mouth power plant in Indonesia, saw construction progress of 70% as of January 2021. The plant’s first unit is expected to commence commercial operations in December this year and the second unit is slated for March 2022.

The gasification plant to process coal into dimethyl ether (DME) is also in sight. The plant, which will be located at the Bukit Asam Coal-Based Industrial Estate (BACBIE) in Tanjung Enim, has been listed as a national strategic project through the issuance of Presidential Regulation No. 109/2020, which was signed by President Joko Widodo in November 2020.

The cooperation agreement between PTBA, Pertamina, and Air Products and Chemicals Inc. was already signed on February 11, 2021. It is just a matter of time before the plant starts operations and produces DME to be used as an alternative to LPG, of which the imports keep rising from one year to another.

This means that the DME produced by PTBA will be the key to saving Indonesia’s foreign exchange reserves and will be a breakthrough in the country’s coal utilization. As a pioneer, PTBA deserves to be proud of this achievement.

Moreover, the company’s business expansion to the new and renewable energy sector is not just all talk. The solar power plant at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, developed in cooperation with PT Angkasa Pura II, has commenced operations. PTBA is also now preparing solar power plants in ex-mining sites in Ombilin, West Sumatra, and Tanjung Enim, South Sumatra, each with a capacity of 200 megawatts. They are expected to begin operations in 2022.

Apart from constructing large-scale solar power plants in ex-mining sites, PTBA, through its CSR programs, also develops several solar facilities to help irrigation at people’s farms.

Bukit Asam’s Contributions

Amid efforts to meet various targets, PTBA will certainly always remember the people’s crucial role in supporting the company’s operations.

As an appreciation for all the supports given by the people and the regional administration of South Sumatra all this time, PTBA allocated in 2020 funds amounting to 128 billion rupiah (US$8.9 million) to develop new sports centers/stadiums, revamp the Jakabaring Sport City, build public facilities, and provide official vehicles in South Sumatra.

The funds are disbursed through PTBA’s CSR programs, which have been supported and approved by South Sumatra Governor Herman Daru. The programs have been running since 2019 and will be completed in 2021.

There will be a total of 11 new sports centers/stadiums located in various regencies/cities in South Sumatra.

Along with the regional administration, PTBA has also taken part in efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020, PTBA handed out donations worth more than 25.5 billion rupiah.

The donations included polymerase chain reaction (PCR) facilities and the renovation of a medical laboratory with a total value of 5.09 billion rupiah. Meanwhile, around 20 billion rupiah was used to provide medical devices, direct aid to the people or communities, as well as facilities and infrastructure to support the implementation of health protocols, and to disseminate information regarding the prevention of the spread of Covid-19.