Indonesia, ADB to cooperate to fund cross-country power projects

Dec 11, 2009 - Xinhua

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Indonesia's state-run power company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara will cooperate in funding three electricity interconnection projects worth 9.8 trillion rupiah (about 980 million U.S. dollars) , Kompas daily quoted an official as saying on Saturday.

Two of the projects are cross-country interconnections that will connect Indonesia and Malaysia.

"The interconnection system that will be funded by the ADB covers Java-Bali islands connection of 500 kilovolts (kV), regional connection of West Kalimantan-Sarawak of 275 kV and Sumatra-Malaka of 500 kV. We are pleased to work with PLN in the interconnection project the company proposed. This will increase system reliability,"said Anthony Jude, ADB's Director of Energy and Water Division for the Southeast Asia in Jakarta on Friday.

The Java-Bali islands line will have two connection options that will be studied, using transmission tower or under sea cable.

The two interconnections connected Indonesia and Malaysia will be the first for the company.

Interconnection is the integrated component of the ASEAN ( Association of Southeast Asian Nations) power system that is the important agenda for long term of the regions' governments.

The integrated power system will allow development of natural resources efficiently and economically. The interconnection is a part of power network construction of ASEAN.

"With the interconnection, public service companies of the two countries could take electricity each other from more efficient power plant at the time of peak demand, instead of using power from their own plants that costs more expensive during the time," said PLN's Director of Planning and Technology Bambang Praptono.

The interconnection of Java-Bali is expected to require 340 million U.S. dollars while West Kalimantan -Sarawak about 150 million dollars and the Sumatra-Malaka connection 490 million dollars.

All networks would be able to distribute power to 300 megawatts (MW) in the first year and 600 MW in the following years.