RI-Malaysia power trade to begin 2014

JAKARTA. State power company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) aims to begin large-scale electricity trading in 2014 after the construction of a transmission network connecting West Kalimantan and Sarawak in Malaysia.

PLN president director Nur Pamudji told reporters that between 50 and 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity could be traded via the planned 275-kilovolt (kV) transmission line. The discussions on constructing the necessary facilities were underway, he added.

“Actually, we currently import electricity from Sarawak, but the capacity is very small, below 1 MW from a micro hydro-power plant,” he said after the signing of an agreement between PLN and Garuda Indonesia Maintenance Facility Aero Asia (PT GMF Aero Asia), a subsidiary of publicly-listed national-flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.

Another transmission line connecting Indonesia and Malaysia would integrate coal-rich South Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia, Pamudji continued. A 250-kV subsea cable would be laid to deliver electricity from coal-fired power plants in South Sumatra.

“However, discussions on the construction of the two transmission lines have not yet gone into detail,” he revealed.

Separately, Murtaqi Syamsuddin of PLN planning and risk management said the firm expected that the tender process for the West Kalimantan–Sarawak transmission could begin this year. The company will team up with Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) in constructing the network.

“We are making good progress on the discussion of the project. The plan has been agreed but we have not made further deals to date. We hope next year we can kick off the construction process,” he explained.

“Temporarily, after the completion of the transmission network, we plan to import power from hydro-power plants in Sarawak.”

The power tariff for exports and imports would be determined through business-to-business negotiations with partners, but the finalization would be subject to Indonesian government approval, he said.

The agreement for the West Kalimantan–Sarawak power transmission was signed in July last year. The transmission line will span 122 kilometers from Bengkayang in West Kalimantan to Mambong in Sarawak.

The South Sumatra–Peninsular Malaysia transmission line would be used to export electricity, Murtaqi reported. South Sumatra was rich in coal, therefore, there would be ample opportunity to export power to other countries.

“The discussions on the South Sumatra–Malaysia transmission are still at a very early stage,” he said.

According to PLN’s electricity procurement business plans (RUPTL), the transmission will be ready for commercial operations in 2017.

As reported earlier, PLN plans to build mine-mouth coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 7,310 MW in Sumatra, predominantly in South Sumatra. The electricity will be used to anticipate growing electricity demand not only in the island, but also in Java.

Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Widjajono Partowidagdo has also suggested that PLN build a 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant in Batam to supply electricity to Singapore so that Indonesia can use the gas allocation for Singapore which is currently burned to generate power for domestic purposes.

Responding to the suggestion, Murtaqi said there was no real urgency to build the power plant as the preliminary studies were still underway. He confirmed that if the study found the project to be profitable, PLN would be more than willing to join forces in building the power plant. (Rangga D. Fadillah/ The Jakarta Post)

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