PLN already signs PPA for 17,340 MW

State owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has thus far signed Power Purchasing Agreements (PPA) for power plant projects worth US$20 billion with a combined capacity of 17,340 MW, which are part of the government?s 35,000 MW program.

The power plants include 8,040 MW power plant projects, for which PPAs were signed on Monday, PLN said in a statement on Tuesday.

PLN?s President Director Sofyan Basir reported the achievement to President Joko Widodo on Tuesday.

?This is a new history for this republic. The signing of PPAs for 8,040 MW was a very historic moment for PLN. For the first time, PLN signed PPAs for such a large amount of capacity,? he said, after meeting with the president.

Of the 17,430 MW capacities, 4,291 MW is power plants that will use clean and renewable energies, such as gas, water, geothermal, as fuel. The remaining 13,049 MW capacities are power plants which use coal as fuel. The power plant projects are scattered in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua.

The contractors of the projects have been selected through a tight and transparent tender process. They come from Japan, China, America, and Europe, bringing along latest technologies for the projects.

Basir said the 17,340 MW power plant projects will start bringing multiplier effects on the national economy in the next six months as the contractors will start preliminary activities such as field surveys, which need workers. The 35,000 MW program will directly employ 650,000 people and indirectly create jobs for 3 million people during the development period.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon