PLN to Begin Tenders for 47 Power Plants for RI Outer Islands
2 April 2015 07:24 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia’s state electricity company (PLN) will begin the tender process for the development of 47 diesel-fueled power plants to help with the government’s plans to provide electricity for Indonesia’s outer borders and outlying islands. PLN director for strategic planning and primary energy, Amin Subekti, said that the due processes were slated to kick off the next couple of weeks.
According to Amin, diesel plants will be used to power these areas because the electrical output required there areas is relatively low—between 500 kilowatts-1 megawatt—and also because these plants could be built in a shorter amount of time. As such, PLN could help the government reach its plans to provide electricity to Indonesia’s bordering areas in time for Indonesia’s Independence Day Celebration on August 17 “Because these plants are smaller, they are quicker to build,” said Amin at his office on Wednesday.
Amin explained that some of the plants will be designed to be floating plants, which will not require the acquisition of land, and hence save time and money. Furthermore, such plants could be used to electrify other islands in extraordinary cases. “Say, if one island is affected by a natural disaster, the plants could easily be moved to help power that island in question—similar to what we had done in Aceh when the tsunami struck,” he said.
Indonesia’s diesel plants, explained Amin, will required the procurement of an additional 5.3 million kiloliters of fuel—down from its previous estimates of 7.9 million kiloliters as Indonesia’s newly built gas-fueled power plants could help decrease the demand for diesel while helping meet the demand for electricity within Indonesia. “The savings are quite huge,” he said.
As a result, the director general for electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (ESDM), Jarman, had asked for an additional Rp1 trillion to be spent on the development of these plants through the 2015 state budget plan (RAPBN). This request is directly related to our government’s plans to develop diesel power plants in Indonesia’s outlying islands,” said Jarman.
URSULA FLORENE | BERNADETTE CHRISTINA
