Govt to Develop 109 Power Plants Project

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government will develop 109 power plants project with a total capacity of 35,000 megawatts between 2015 and 2019, said a statement from state-owned electricity company PLN as reported by Antara News.

Of the 109 projects, 74 power plants with a capacity of 25,904 megawatts will be developed through the independent power producer (IPP) scheme, while the development of the remaining 35 projects with a capacity of 10,681 megawatts will be carried out by the PLN.

Java-Bali will get power plants with a capacity of 18,697 megawatts,Sumatra will get 10,090-megawatt plants, Sulawesi 3,470 megawatts, Kalimantan 2,635 megawatts, Nusa Tenggara 670 megawatts, Maluku 272 megawatts, and Papua 220 megawatts.

The construction of the power plants needs Rp1,127 trillion, or about US$87.6 billion. While Rp512 trillion, or about US$39.8 billion, will be allotted from the PLN, Rp615 trillion, or about US$47.8 billion, should come from private sectors.

The PLN's contribution for power plant construction will be Rp199 trillion, or about US$15.4 billion, while Rp313 trillion, or about US$24.3 billion, will be allocated for substations.

Meanwhile, the IPP's fund will also be all used for power plant construction.

The 35,000-megawatts power plants will be built to meet the requirement of 7,000 megawatts per year, based on the assumption that the economy will grow 6 to 7 percent.

With the assumption that the economy will grow 6.1 percent in 2015, the government is projecting peak load electricity to reach 36,787 megawatts.

By 2019, demand for electricity is expected to reach 50,531 megawatts with 7.1 percent economic growth, and by 2024, it will reach 74,536 megawatts, assuming that the economy will grow 7 percent.

The current capacity of existing power plants is 50,000 megawatts.

With the addition of 35,000 megawatts, the national electrification ratio will increase from 84 percent in 2015 to 97 percent in 2019.

ANTARA NEWS