RI, KL start study for key transmission project
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State electricity firm PT PLN and Malaysian state electricity firm Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) are to start a feasibility study for a power transmission project connecting the two countries.
The project will bring the region one step closer to the realization of a fully integrated power highway among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The two utility companies have selected U.S.-based Shaw Power Technology Inc. to conduct a six-month study in May for the Sumatra-Peninsular Malaysia interconnection project.
"If the project is feasible, we would like to start construction as soon as possible," PLN Eddie Widiono told reporters on Thursday.
Eddie did not say when construction would start, but the project is expected to be completed in 2009. PLN and TNB are splitting the US$982,000 cost of the study equally.
The Sumatra-Peninsular Malaysia interconnection project is to stretch 50 to 60 kilometers from the Malaysian Peninsula to Riau, Sumatra.
Eddie said the project was lucrative, as Sumatra holds massive stores of primary energy such as coal and natural gas to generate power, and would enable the two countries to lower power generation costs and conserve power reserves.
"The project could reduce production and operating costs, support the sharing of rotating reserves and mitigate the demand- supply balance," Eddie said.
Once the two systems are connected, it is also expected to lower the amount of investment needed to build new power plants.
Eddie said PLN may benefit from Malaysia's power reserves in providing an extra supply for Sumatra.
Sumatra is one of six regions in Indonesia that are suffering power shortages. With a capacity of only 1,538 megawatts (MW), its maximum peak load reaches 1,838 MW, leaving the island with a power deficit of 300 MW.
The supply grid system could be used to distribute power to the power-hungry Java-Bali grid once the Sumatra-Java interconnection project is completed.
TNB president Pian Sukro said the interconnection grid would enable Malaysia to export its excessive reserves.
At present, power demand in Malaysia stands at 11,700 MW while it has a supply of 17,000 MW.
"We have surplus reserves of 45 percent, which we can share with our neighbors in ASEAN," Pian said.
Malaysia has an interconnection grid to Singapore and Thailand.
The Sumatra-Peninsular Malaysia project is one of three power projects under the ASEAN Interconnection Masterplan Study (AIMS) and was approved during the 2003 ASEAN Energy Ministerial Forum in Langkawi, Malaysia. The others are the transmission line project between Sarawak, East Malaysia, and Indonesia's West Kalimantan, and the Vietnam-Laos transmission project.
ASEAN countries have been working on a transnational power supply grid since 1997, and aims to establish a regional electricity grid by 2020.
Aside from the Malaysia-Singapore and Malaysia-Thailand grids, Thailand and Laos have also been connected by transmission lines.