Australian investor to build solar power plants in South Sumatra

Solar Guys International-Mitabu, a consortium of companies based in Australia, plans to develop solar power plants in South Sumatra with investment of up to Rp 1 trillion, in cooperation with the local government, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

The company?s director Dane Muldoon said that the company planned to build two solar power stations which would have capacity of 5 megawatt (MW) and 50 MW, respectively, with an average cost of A$2.5 million per MW.

Solar Guys would cooperate with the South Sumatra provincial administration-owned company to build and operate the solar power plants in the province. ?This will be our first solar power projects in Indonesia,? he said.

According to Muldoon, the construction of the 5MW solar power station would be begun in July, this year and is expected to be completed in six months, while the construction of the 50 MW solar power plant would be carried out in September, next year.

Muldoon said that the construction of the solar power plants would be part of the ?one Solar Watt Per Person, a government program to provide one watt of solar power for every Indonesian people.

The company has earlier signed a memorandum of understanding with the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on the construction of solar power plants with capacity of up to 250 MW across Indonesia.

?We have chosen South Sumatra and cooperate with the local government to start the One Solar Watt per Person program,? he said. (*)