Minister signs new regulation on ?off-grid? power plant project
Wednesday, November 30 2016 - 07:03 AM WIB
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan has signed a new ministerial regulation that would allow private and regional government-owned companies to develop power plants and the required transmission lines in remote regions to sell electricity directly to consumers, instead of via state-owned electricity firm PT PLN, Investor Daily reported on Wednesday.
As such, the power plants will not be connected to PLN transmission lines (off-grid). Under the current system, independent power producers sell their electricity output to PLN.
?The ministerial regulation has been signed, and is in the process of legislation at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights,? said Alihuddin Sitompul, Director of Electricity Development Program at the ministry.
He said that there are about 2,500 villages across the country which have yet to obtain power supply.
He added that the off-grid power plants, each with maximum capacity of 50 MW, would be based on a combination of renewable energy sources and fossil energy, or hybrid plants. It would also help efforts to increase electrification ratio in the country.
Alihuddin said that there will be incentives for investors entering the off-grid power plant development. (*)