Over 200 investors interested in Sumatra solar PV projects
Wednesday, June 7 2017 - 02:28 AM WIB
Petromindo
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said as many as 212 investors have collected prequalification (PQ) tender documents for six packages of solar PV projects in Sumatra by the June 2 deadline for the PQ document collection, indicating that there remains strong interest in renewable projects in the country particular solar PV.
The ministry said in a statement obtained Wednesday that the greatest interest is given to Package 3 project (located in Riau, Riau Islands and Bangka Belitung provinces) with 61 investors collecting the PQ document, followed by Package 2 (North Sumatra) with 47 applicants, and Package 1 (Aceh) with 35 applicants. The three other packages including Package 5 (South Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu) received 29 applicants, Package 6 (Lampung) 24 applicants, and Package 4 (West Sumatra) 16 applicants.
State-owned electricity firm PT PLN unveiled last month tender for the six packages of planned Solar PV projects in Sumatra with total capacity 167.58 MW peaks comprising of 20 MWp in Aceh, 35 MWp in North Sumatra, 38.68 MWp in Riau, Riau Islands, and Bangk Belitung, 16 MWp in West Sumatra, 33 MWp in South Sumatra, Jambi and Bengkulu, and 24.9 MWp in Lampung.
The ministry said that the strong interest in the projects comes despite recent protest by some local investors over the new Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No 12/2017 which limits the selling price of electricity from renewable power plants to PLN at 85 percent the local electricity supply cost (or BPP) of PLN where the project is located.
The ministry said that most of the six packages are located in regions with BPP higher than the national BPP, making the projects to be quite economically attractive. Only Lampung and West Java have BPP lower than the national BPP. Nevertheless, as there are a number of applicants for projects in the two regions, suggests that investment in the renewable sector in the two provinces remains economically attractive.
The ministry said that on May 19, PLN signed two power purchase agreements for renewable projects in Sumatra including the mini hydro PLTM Semendo 9 MW in South Sumatra and the PLTBg Mitra Puding Mas 9 MW in Bengkulu. In addition, 37 MoUs on renewable projects were signed, making the total planned capacity to reach 283 MW.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak