Govt eyes solar, microhydro power plants
Govt eyes solar, microhydro power plants
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is planning to build thousands of small scale
solar power units as well as microhydro plants on eastern islands
of the nation next year to increase electricity penetration in
some of the country's more remote areas.
The government will build 15,000 household solar power units,
each with a capacity of 100 watts, the Ministry of Energy and
Mineral Resources' director general of electricity and energy
Yogo Pratomo was quoted by Antara news agency as saying over the
weekend.
"We hope the (small-scale) power units will meet electricity
demand in remote areas in the eastern part of Indonesia," he
said.
Each of the solar cell units will cost between Rp 5 million
(US$500) and Rp 6 million to build. "However, they won't use any
fuel except sunlight so there is no extra expense," said Yogo.
Aside from utilizing sunlight, the government also plans to
build 200 microhydro power plants with a capacity of between 50
kiloWatts (kW) and 500 kW each. Investment needed for every
kiloWatt is estimated at Rp 20 million.
"The funds to construct these plants will be taken from the
state budget and (state power firm) PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara
(PLN)," Yogo was quoted as saying.
The development of power capacity in the country has been
hampered due to a lack of funds since the monetary crisis
severely hit the country in 1997, despite the steadily rising
demand.
PLN is focusing its expansion on Java -- where more than half
of the country's population lives and an estimated 70 percent of
the country's economic activity is located -- Bali and Sumatra.
The state firm has allocated just 17 percent of its projects for
other islands.
The latest data from the World Bank shows that the
electrification ratio in Java reaches 72 percent, while that in
Maluku is limited to 50 percent. Only one in five people enjoy
the luxury of electricity in natural resource-rich Papua,
Indonesia's least-developed province.
Despite massive potential, power plants using renewable energy
sources contribute only a small portion of the country's total
installed power capacity of about 25,000 megaWatts (MW).
The installed capacity of mini and micro hydropower plants is
only 54 MW, while those utilizing geothermal and biomass energy
have installed capacity of 800 MW and 302 MW, respectively.
The government aims to raise the use of new and renewable
energy sources in power generation from 0.2 percent currently to
4 percent by 2020.