Jakarta – Twentyone people were hospitalised after breathing in toxic fumes near a geothermal power plant in Mandailing Natal region, North Sumatra, reports said Monday (25/4). Hot mudflow that bursted out of one of wells owned by PT SMGP (Sorik Merapi Geothermal Power) Geothermal Project was still flowing out and flooding surrounding rice fields and rivers on Sunday afternoon.
Most of the local people exposed to the toxic gas were working in rice fields in Sibagor Julu village, not far from the geothermal project. After the eruption, they smell a strong odour and started vomiting and fainting, said the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) in their social media account.
Mandailing Natal Police Chief AKBP HM Reza Chairul told Kompas that until Sunday afternoon the “mudflow had not stopped. It flowed into rice fields and rivers.”
Last month, the residents launched a strong protest against a gas leak, the company said on their website. No casualties were reported in that incident. “On March 6th 2022, a violent protest of villagers from Sibanggor Julu took place due to wrongful allegations of H2S gas leak during the well testing of AAE-05 in the Sorik Marapi Geothermal Project,” the company responded following reports of “an alleged H2S gas leak” in the Sorik Marapi Power Project.
The Sorik Marapi Geothermal Project unit 2 with the capacity of 45 Megawatts has recently started their commercial operation after completing their Unit Rated Capacity (URC) test, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MoEMR).
The company’s Unit 1 well has started operating commercially in October 2019, and are currently drilling in preparation of Units 3 and 4. The project targets a total of 240MW development following a feasibility study, approved by the MoEMR and a sales contract with the State Electricity Company (PLN).
The unit’s Commercial Operation Date (COD) was delayed for around 18 months from the targeted December 2020 date, following an unexpected accident that caused fatalities. According to Jatam’s record, the recent incident is the fourth accident in the past two years related to the company. On 25 January 2021, five people died and at least 49 people were hospitalised. (nsh)
