Govt to build 15,000 solar power plants in 2006

The government will build 15,000 solar power plants and 200 micro hydropower plants in the eastern part of Indonesia in 2006, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Monday edition.

The building of these small scale power plants aimed to fulfill the energy needs of the eastern Indonesia, which is lagging behind the western Indonesia economically, director general of electricity and utilization of energy at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Yogo Pratomo said.

?Currently, most of the power plants are located in Java. That?s why, the government wants to build more solar and micro hydropower plants in the eastern part of the country,? Yogo said recently in Jakarta.

The construction of each power plant, which has around 100-watt power generation capacity, will cost the government around Rp 5 to Rp 6 million. (*)