MEMR drafts new ruling on joint utilization of power transmission

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) is currently drafting a new regulation that would allow private power producers to utilize a 500 kilovolt power transmission line in Sumatra to be developed by state-owned electricity firm PLN, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.

?We?re targeting for the new ministerial regulation to be completed end of this year,? said Director General of Electricity Jarman.

He said that allowing private power producers to utilize the planned transmission line would help allow industries in industrial zones in Sumatra to obtain badly needed electricity supply from power plants to be developed by private firms in distant areas where the fuel sources are located. The private power producers utilizing the transmission facility will be charged with a toll fee. This way, PLN would also be less pressured to develop new plants to meet growing power demand in the region, he added.

PLN is currently in the process of starting the construction of a 1,120 km power transmission project worth Rp 12 trillion in the eastern coast of Sumatra Island, which is expected to be completed in 2017. (*)