PLN to provide additional power supply of 400 MW in Sumatra

Beginning next year, sate owned electricity company PLN will provide additional power supply of about 400 megawatt in six provinces in Sumatra including West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung .

PLN?s president director Dahlan Iskan said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the additional power supply would be needed to cope with the power supply deficit during the dry season.

At present, he said, the six provinces still rely own the hydro power plants to supply their power needs. ?This is the reason why the provinces always suffer a power deficit during the dry season,? he said adding that the power supply deficit could reach 400 MW during the dry season every year..

The additional power supply will come from newly built coal-fired power plants in the province including PLTU Tarahan (2 x 100 MW) in Lampung, PLTU Simpang Belimbing ( 2 x 115 MW) in South Sumatara and PLTG Jambi Merang (100 MW) in Jambi.

Dahlan said that the three power plants would be able to provide up to 530 MW of power supply when they begin their full operation next year. (godang)