PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, an Indonesian government-owned corporation continues to increase the use of new and renewable energy (EBT) that is environmentally friendly. Until June 2020, the capacity of renewable energy plants in Indonesia is 7,964 Megawatts (MW).
“We are committed to continuously increasing the use of environmentally friendly renewable energy plants. It is PLN’s responsibility and effort to protect future generations, ”said PLN Mega Project Director Ikhsan Asaad.
In terms of the energy mix, the utilization of EBT generators also increased from 12.36 percent in January 2020 to 14 percent in June 2020.
The renewable energy power plant is dominated by hydroelectric power (PLTA), which is 4,707 MW or 7.5 percent of the total energy mix of generators and geothermal power plants (PLTP) of 2,443 MW or 3.9 percent of the total energy generation.
The increase in EBT is also part of PLN’s transformation. Through one of its main aspirations, namely green, PLN has several strategies to encourage the use of new and renewable energy, namely by co-firing the Steam Power Plant (PLTU) which is already in operation, the conversion program of the Diesel Power Plant (PLTD) to a Power Plant ( PLT) Biomass, construction of a Floating Solar Power Plant (PLTS) by utilizing existing dams to generate electricity.
“We continue to innovate to encourage EBT. We are optimizing the existing potential, “said Ikhsan.
In addition, co-firing has also been developed by PLN in several PLTUs, such as the Paiton PLTU with a capacity of 2 × 400 MW using wood powder processing, Ketapang PLTU with a capacity of 2 × 10 MW and PLTU Tembilahan with a capacity of 2 × 7 MW using processed palm kernel shells. Co-firing is carried out by mixing these preparations for 5 percent of the total fuel requirement. Meanwhile, for the conversion from PLTD to PLT Biomass, PLN noted that there are 1.3 Gigawatt PLTDs that can be converted into Biomass PLT.
PLN also encourages the construction of large capacity Floating PLTS by utilizing dams in Indonesia. For example, in January 2020, PLN signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Consortium of PT PJBI-Masdar to build a Floating PLTS in Cirata, West Java with a total capacity reaching 145 MW. The construction of this PLTS will begin in early 2021 and will become the largest Floating PLTS in Southeast Asia.
“Cirata Floating PLTS is very cheap, only 5.8 cUSD / kWh. We will try to encourage power plants like this and certainly at a lower price, “Ikhsan added.
At present, PLN is also developing the Renewable Certificate Energy (REC). REC will be offered to customers who have a commitment to use EBT where each use of 1 MWH EBT will get 1 unit of REC.
In addition to providing electricity through the EBT plant, PLN is also preparing infrastructure to support the presence of electric vehicles.
