French firm plans marine current power project in RI

By Febry Silaban

French company Naval Energies and its Indonesian partner PT Arus Indonesia Raya (AIR) plan to develop marine current power plant projects in Indonesia, according to a senior government official.

Director General of Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Rida Mulyana said on Friday that AIR has conducted feasibility study in ten locations in the country that have the potential to generate a combined 1.4 GW of electricity from marine current.

Rida said that the marine current power project will help the government in realizing its target for renewables to account for up to 23 percent of the country?s energy mix by 2025. No further details about the planned project were provided.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan said previously that a Dutch firm plans to develop similar project with capacity of 20 MW at the Larantuka Strait in East Nusa Tenggara, with proposed electricity tariff of 7.18 US cents per kWh.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak