The Project

Thorndon Cook Power staff were engaged by a potential investor to provide an objective and independent technical assessment of the Tawau geothermal power project.

The Tawau geothermal power project is the first geothermal power plant project in Malaysia located at Apas Kiri, Tawau District in the east coast of the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. Tawau Green Energy (TGE) has procured all approvals required to commence geothermal exploration and design, construction, operation and maintenance of a 36MWe (gross) power plant.

Our Role

As part of the due diligence investigation, our role was to undertake a critical analysis of all the technical documents given by TGE. The analysis covered the Apas Kiri Geothermal Field and included:

• A review of the geothermal resource (geology, geochemistry and geophysics) and assessment of the suitability of the exploration methodology used by TGE, and the reasonableness of their interpretation of the results including the derivation of the geothermal conceptual model, and calculation of resource capacity.
• A review of the technology selection, including electrical design concept, proposed transmission solution, material selection, estimated plant performance, availability and capacity factors, plant life assessment, chemical issues and environmental issues.
• A review of the Capex and Opex cost estimates
• A review of the project schedule.
• A review of the inputs to financial model, including timing of the project , impact of technology selection, lifetime of the plant, tariff, capacity factor, productivity per well, depth and success rate, capital risk, project finance (such as drilling cost, Steamfield, Power Plant and Transmission costs, Water treatment and pollution control facilities ), Infrastructure Finance (Interconnection and communication facilities), land acquisition & access road, Opex costs and other assumptions such as Clean Development Mechanism, escalation and inflation
• A review of the project risks, including permitting and regulatory, resource, drilling, technology, project implementation (schedule, cost overrun, quality), environmental, health and safety, project economic (related to PPA),

Results

We provided comprehensive due diligence reports summarising our assessment of the documentation reviewed and identifying the resource and technical risks along with the environmental risks with the proposed development and how these risks would be minimised/mitigated.

To ensure the client was fully aware before investing significantly in Tawau geothermal project, we also provided recommendations on the next steps to be undertaken by TGE to ensure the best outcomes for the project.

The work was completed on time and within budget.

Capabilities

Disciplines:
mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, project/program management

Roles:
due diligence studies, project planning and project management

Advice:
project management and controls