Govt to hold tender for 140MW solar power plants

The government plans to hold tender for the construction of 80 units of solar power plants in the country with a combined capacity of 140 MW, according to Director General of Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, Rida Mulyana.

Rida said that the winning bidders for the projects are expected to be announced in December of this year, to be followed with six-month construction process, so that hopefully the plants can start operation in the middle of next year.

Rida said that the majority of the solar power plants will be located in the eastern part of Indonesia including Papua, West Papua, Maluku, Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.

He added that several investors for domestic and foreign including from the US, Japan, and South Africa have been waiting for the tender implementation.

The investment requirement for a solar power plant is estimated at about Rp 20 billion per MW outside the land requirement, or a total of Rp 2.8 trillion for a combined 140 MW. The required land is about 1.2 ha per plant. The planned solar power plants will replace the remaining diesel fuel power plants in the eastern part of Indonesia. (*)