Medco developing micro hydropower plants
Monday, August 26 2013 - 11:27 AM WIB
PT Medco Power Indonesia is developing micro hydropower plants as part of its program to expand its business in renewable energy.
?We?re developing power plants based on renewable energy at a total capacity of 500 megawatt (MW). Among them will be to build a number of micro hydropower plants at a total capacity of 110 MW in 17 locations. Each will have a generation capacity of 10 MW,? PT Medco Power Indonesia?s President Director Fazil E. Alfitri said in Jakarta over the weekend.
He said that his company will utilize rivers in the 17 locations, in Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, for the micro hydropower plants.
He said that all of the micro hydropower plants are expected to be finalized within four years. ?We?ll develop 30 MW every year. We?ve made schedules for each of them,? he said.
According to him, this year one of the micro hydropower plants, located in Sukabumi, West Java, will be finalized, while the other five are still under construction. The five power plants are called Cibadak Pulang 1, 2, 3, and Pusaka Parahiangan 1 and 3.
The first micro hydro power plant will require a total investment of around Rp 250 billion. ?We got loans from Indonesian banks. The other five will be finalized in 2015. After that we?ll move to North Sumatra and South Sulawesi ,? he said.
He said that the micro hydropower plants will increase the national electrification rate in rural areas. ?Many villages now cannot access electricity from state utility PT PLN as they are very far from the grid system. Even in West Java, which is relatively near to Jakarta , there are still many villages out of the power system. That?s why electrification rate in the province is still around 70 percent,? he said.
Editing by Benget Besalicto ST