PLN to electrify nearly 200 villages in Maluku region this year
Wednesday, May 10 2017 - 01:18 AM WIB
General Manager of PLN for Maluku and North Maluku provinces, Indradi Setiawan said in a statement issued Tuesday following an inauguration ceremony of a 2x7 MW coal-fired power plant in Tidore, North Maluku, and its village electricity program in the province, the utility firm last year electrified 13 villages in North Maluku and 21 villages in Maluku.
The ceremony was led by President Joko Widodo via video conference, where he also led a ground-breaking ceremony for PLN village electricity program in Papua and West Papua provinces, and for the 50 MW gas engine mobile power plant (MPP) in Jayapura.
Indradi said that electrification ratio in North Maluku currently stands at 76.26 percent of the population, and is targeted to increase to 82.7 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, the ratio in Maluku currently stands at 7.44 percent, and is targeted to increase to 91.6 percent in 2019.
?In 2017, PLN will electrify 69 villages and 18 district capitals in North Maluku Provinces, as well as 104 villages and eight district capitals in Maluku Province. Through to 2019 PLN is targeting to electrify 489 villages and 48 district capitals in Maluku and North Maluku,? Indradi said.
The PLN village electricity program aims to electrify thousands of villages in the country which have yet to receive power supply by developing transmission lines and other supporting infrastructure facilities including power plants, either fired by diesel fuel or renewables.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak