PLN looking for strategic partners to build new power plants

State-owned electricity company PT PLN is looking for strategic partners for its subsidiaries PT Indonesian Power and PT Pembangkitan Jawa Bali II to build new power plants to anticipate power crisis in the coming years, economic daily Bisnis Indonesia reported Monday.

PLN president Eddie Widiono Suwondo said joint venture with strategic partners was an interesting option for PLN and its subsidiaries to increase power supplies to meet the country's growing demand for power.

He said PLN could contribute to the joint ventures by providing infrastructure, including land.

"To become a dominant player (in the joint ventures), we have to put enough capital (in the joint ventures)," he said.

PLN and the government have earlier warned that with the current electricity demand growth of nine percent per annum, Indonesia will experience power crisis in year 2003 if no new power plants are built.

To avoid power shortage, PLN and its subsidiaries need to build 16,540 MW of new electricity generations in the next 10 years.

PLN's current capacity stands at around 18,000 megawatts (MW), while the current maximum demand for the Java Bali grid only reaches 13,000 MW. (*)