North Sumatera may suffer crisis in power supply
Saturday, June 2 2001 - 06:00 AM WIB
North Sumatera may soon suffer a serious crisis in the power supply, if no new power plant is built to increase the generating capacity of the state electricity company PLN in the province.
Joko Prasetio, the head of the power distribution for North Sumatera province, said in Medan on Friday that the electricity demand in the province could soon exceeded the generating capacity if no additional supply is added to the province's power grids.
He said that the electricity demand had reached 860 Mega Watt while the supply capacity was only about 1,233 MW. "If no new power plant is built, the province might fall into a serious power crisis," he was quoted as saying by Bisnis Indonesia.
He acknowledged that there would be no new power plants in the province within the next two years, except the new generating unit of the hydro power plant Sipansipahoras, which will have a capacity of 17 MW.
The unit of the Sipansipahoras power plant will be far lower than the first unit, which was operated in 11993 with a generating capacity of 33 MW.
According to him, the existing power supply might only be able to meet the demand until 2005. If there is no additional supply is made by the year, the power supply in the province will be in a serious difficulty.
He said that private companies should be encouraged to build electricity plants by offering new incentives. If the current pricing system is maintained, no private companies will be interested in the power sector.
According to him, at present the selling price of PLN is Rp 280 per kWh, far lower than the operating cost of Rp 448 per kWh. "No one will enter the business if the selling price is kept at the current level," he added. (*)