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INDONESIA'S PLN BUYS POWER FROM MALAYSIASAJINGAN BESAR, W Kalimantan, Mar 16, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Indonesian state power company PT PLN planned to expand cooperation with Sarawak Energy Berhard (SEB) in West Kalimantan for interconnection and power purchase. President director of PT PLN Fahmi Mochtar said in Sajingan Besar, Sambas regency, on Sunday that on February 19, 2009, Heads of Agreement between PLN and SEb had been signed under a Sarawak-West Kalimantan interconnection network project. SEB will supply electricity from the 275 kV system in Serawak to Bengkayang in West Kalimantan in the 2011 to 2012 period, Fahmi Mochtar said when inaugurating a power energy purchase from SEB by PT PLN in West Kalimantan for Sajingan in the Aruk border crossing check point. He said in the initial stage PLN in West Kalimantan will buy 200 kVA of electricity from SEB to serve 380 households in Sajingan Besar subdistrict. PLN will also buy 400 kVA of electricity from SEB for the population in Badau, Badau subdistrict, Kapuas Hulu, on the border region projected to be realized in March 2009. Fahmi Mochtar said the power purchase from Malaysia in Sajingan Besar was a first in Indonesia, but this type of transaction is often carried out between countries in Southeast Asia such as between Thailand and Laos. PLN also wanted to build an interconnection network in the Asian countries. Three of the 14 interconnection projects concern Indonesia, Mochtar said. They are the Batam - Singapore, Sumatera - Malaysia Peninsula, and West Kalimantan-Sarawak interconnection. Under the Asean economic cooperation scheme, all the interconnection projects are scheduled for completion in 2015. General Manajer of PLN for West Kalimantan Denny Pranoto said the power purchase from SEB will be increased. For Sajingan Besar it will be increased to 1,000 kVA with the network reaching Galing subdistrict 34 kilometers from Aruk, Denny Pranoto said. Pranoto added that the government had prepared the funding for boosting the capacity from the 2009 State Budget. Four villages will be covered by the power line from Aruk to Galing. "Actually Galing already received power from PLN in Sambas," Pranoto said. He cited that 500 kVA to 1,000 kVA of electricity will also be supplied to Entikong subdistrict bordering with Tebedu, Sarawak, under a deal and memorandum of understanding (MoU). "Implementation will be in stages according to the capacity of the network," Pranoto said. Chairman of SEB Datok Abdul Hamid Sepawi meanwhile said the trans-border electricity supply was a great achievement under the PLN-SEB cooperation. Sepawi added that some time in the future there is a possibility that West Kalimantan will supply power to Sarawak. "We know that many parts of Kalimantan are abundant with coal, potential for hydropower plants, or other types of energy to produce electricity," Sepawi said. (ANTARA) |