Govt plans to build second 10,000-MW series of power plants

The government is drawing up a program to build a second series of power plants with a combined capacity of 10,000 MW across the country to keep up with the mounting public needs for electricity, a minister said.

Some aspects of the program were disclosed by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro to reporters following a meeting on acceleration of the first 10,000-MW power plants project at the vice presidential office here Wednesday, state-owned Antara news agency said.

The government had decided to set up another series of power plants with a total capacity of 10,000 MW because domestic demand for electricity was growing fast, Purnomo said. "In a number of regions outside Java, the need for electricity is now even growing at almost 10 percent per year," he said.

While the first series of power plants were all coal-fired, such type of power plant will make up only 30 percent of the second series of power plant projects. The remainder would be made up of geothermal, hydropower and other types of power generating facilities, he said.

Indonsia's goethermal resources have potentials to generate 27,000 MW of power, while the hydro sector is able to generate 60,000 MW, according to Purnomo.

As pollution by the coal-fired power plants in Java had already reached a fairly high level, the coal-fired plants in the second program would only be built outside Java, the minister said.

Asked whether the new and renewable energy sources he had mentioned would include nuclear energy, Yusgiantoro did not give a clear reply. "The emphasis will be on geothermal and hydropower. We still have to conduct studies on the use of other energy sources such as wind, solar and other energy sources. We have been given a month to make these studies," he said.

When asked about the timeframe, the minister said it would be a "multi-year project".

The project was estimated to require a total investment of between US$8 billion and $9 billion, he added. (*)