TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:State electricity company PT PLN will optimize wind power to be the energy source of power plants. This year, PLN is targeting alternative power development in three areas. “The areas are Singkil, Sumba, and Sukabumi," said Nasri Sebayang, PLN’s planning and technology director, in Jakarta yesterday.
The new technology requires locations with at least 2 – 3 meters per second of wind speed as the energy source for wind-generated power plants (PLTB). The available wind potential with such speed is equivalent to 9.268 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
In the near future, PLN will be using PLTB in Sukabumi, West Java, the result of development by private producer Viron Energy. The power plant will be the first large-scale PLTB with a capacity up to 30 MW. “The approval will be ready this March,” said Nasri.
The price for the wind-powered electricity is only Rp 820 per kilowatt hour, cheaper than oil fuel which is Rp 2,400 per kilowatt hour. Each construction of 1 MW PLBT requires US$ 3 million in investment.
In the initial stages, PLN will test PLTB Sumba in East Nusa Tenggara Timur, and PLTB Singkil for six months. “If it is successful, it will be used as the national production,” said Nasri. One power plant to be built will have 200 kW to 1 MW capacity. “It’s small, but we’ll build many.”
Based on the electricity need in Sumba, PLN has targeted a PLTB with a total capacity of 10 MW. “If it is succeeds with a low wind speed, we will develop it in other areas, especially eastern Indonesia, where the wind potential is big,” said Nasri.
Until 2019, PLN will build 74 MW wind-generated power plant, with investments valued at US$222 million. The wind power development has been impeded because high and stable speed is only available in certain areas. As such, high technology is required to develop low-speed wind.
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