PLN, GE to develop power plants in remote regions

State-owned electricity company PT PLN?s subsidiary has signed an MoU with General Electric to develop small-scale power plants in remote regions in eastern part of Indonesia, reports said Wednesday.

Investor Daily quoted PLN President Director Sofyan Basir as saying that the company?s subsidiary would team up with GE to develop small-scale power plants with capacity of 20-30 MW in remote regions. He did not specify the PLN subsidiary and the planned investment.

Kontan said that the planned cooperation between GE and PLN subsidiary was made following a meeting Tuesday between GE Indonesia CEO Handry Satriago and President Joko Widodo.

The paper quoted Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said as saying that GE has the necessary technology with capability of developing power plants up to 1,000 MW in nine months.

Indonesia is seeking to increase electrification ration to 96.6 percent by 2019 from the current 85.1 percent. (*)