Govt may revive nuclear power plant project
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is considering reviving a plan to build a nuclear power plant in Muria Bay, Central Java to cope with increasing power demand and declining reserves of primary energy, a senior official said on Monday.
Yogo Pratomo, the director general of electricity and power consumption at the Ministry of Energy, said if the plan went ahead the power plant could start operations in 2016.
"Based on a study conducted by (National Nuclear Agency) BATAN, the nuclear power plant project is feasible," Yogo told reporters, while attending a power purchase agreement between state electricity firm PT PLN and Mekarsari Village Cooperatives.
The New Order regime under the leadership of former president Soeharto had planned to build a massive power plant in Muria Bay. However, the plan met strong resistance from the public and non- government organizations over concerns about public safety and environmental hazards.
Yogo said PLN could begin building the power plant with a capacity of 600 megawatts (MW) in 2011. The project would need an estimated investment of US$9 billion and would take five years to complete.
"Its capacity could be increased depending on the financing (availability)," he said.
Yogo said PLN would seek to borrow money for the plant "from abroad" but did not elaborate.
The plan to revive the construction of a nuclear power plant, was to cope with growing demand for electricity, he said. Demand for power in Indonesia was growing by an average of 7 percent per annum, higher than the country's current growth in gross domestic product (GDP).
Indonesia's total power capacity is 21,000 MW with Java and Bali eating up a large chunk of 18,660 MW.
The current capacity is barely enough to meet electricity demand. Last year, PLN was forced to apply rotating blackouts in several parts of Java when some power plants ran into technical problems.
Yogo said using nuclear energy was a useful alternative because primary energy reserves used to fire coal and oil power plants in Indonesia were depleting.