Govt to auction 172.5 MW solar power projects

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry will auction solar power projects with total capacity of 172.5 megawatt (MW) in 72 locations in the country to independent power producers (IPPs), Bisnis Indonesia reported on Monday.

The ministry?s director for renewable energy and energy conservation, Rida Mulyana, said in Jakarta last week that 22 of the solar power projects would be located in western part of Indonesia and the other 50 in the eastern part.

He said that the development of the solar power projects would cost about Rp 1.87 trillion with the assumption that each 1 MW of solar electricity to be generated would cost about Rp 26 billion.

He said that the ministry was finalizing a new regulation which would be used as the main guideline for the launch of the tender for development of solar power stations by independent power producers.

?Next week [this week), the ruling will be issued. After that the tender will be opened,? he added.

In the tender, bidders should provide the land and power grid to transmit the electricity to state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) distribution networks. The government has fixed the price for the solar power to be sold to PLN at US$0.25 per kilowatt hour (KWh). (*)