Seven firms to build 490-MW power plants in Jambi

Jambi province will soon get 490 megawatts of additional power supply as seven national energy firms are planning to build several power plants in the province, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Monday edition.

The seven companies are PT Mambruk, PT Artindo Utama, PTTanjung Power, PT Somit Trakindo, PT Bangka Energi, PT Indonesia Power and PT Bukaka Utama. They will use water, coal and gas to generate power at the power plants.

The power plants will be built at places like Kerinci, Muara Jambi, Tanjung Jabung Barat, Batanghari and Sarolangun regencies.

Jambi's provincial mining and energy agency chief Rahman Poetera told the daily over the weekend that the power plants will solve power crisis in various areas in the province, especially in remote and isolated areas.

Besides seven companies' projects, the Jambi provincial administration has also allocated Rp 1.3 trillion for the construction of micro hydro power plants in Merangin and Bungo.

According to Rahman, power supplies in the province have a peak load of between 110 to 116 MW, 68.23 percent of which comes from the Sumatra Interconnection power line with the rest from the local power plants. (*)