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s part of efforts to boost electricity supply in remote areas, state-owned electricity firm PLN has rolled out its plans to procure small-scale mobile gas engine power plants, according to an executive.

'€œThese power plants will have capacity between 10 and 20 megawatts [MW],'€ said PLN'€™s regional business director for Papua and Maluku, Haryanto.

Most of the mobile power plants will be placed in the eastern parts of Indonesia, including Maluku and Papua.

'€œThey will be dedicated to areas with a lack of supply but where the demand is too low for mobile vessels,'€ Haryanto added.

Previously, PLN procured mobile power plant vessels to provide supply to remote areas. Gas-fired mobile power plants have less capacity than mobile vessels.

Mobile power plants with a total 200 MW in capacity are expected to be stationed in at least six areas in Maluku '€” including Ternate, Tual and Saumlaki '€” and up to four locations in Papua '€” including in Manokwari and Fakfak '€” according to Haryanto.

He declined to reveal the cost for the plants'€™ procurement.

'€œProcurement tenders will be held within the first half of this year so there will be plants ready to be in operation by the end of 2017 and 2018,'€ he said.

In the future, other areas, including Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan, will have similar mobile power plants, Haryato said, declining to expound on the plan.

Currently, the Papua and Maluku electricity system has 450 MW in installed capacity, while the regions'€™ peak demand is around 380 MW, according to Haryanto.

'€œFor this year, Maluku and Papua system is targeted to see 12 percent in power consumption growth, higher than last year'€™s realization of around 9 percent,'€ he added.

Under its national target, PLN is expecting to book 6 percent growth in electricity sales this year, far higher than last year'€™s lackluster realization of only a 2.1 percent increase. In 2015, total electricity sales from January to December were 200.6 terrawatt hours.

As of the end of 2015, the country has more than 55,523 MW in installed capacity, mostly located in Java. Of that total, 2,458 MW is new capacity was added to the national electricity system in 2015.

As of December, the electrification ratio stands at 88 percent, with some areas still seeing significantly lower ratios than the national ratio. Sumatra is among regions under the spotlight following frequent
blackouts.

To anticipate peak demand in the future and to support economic growth, the government is planning to add 35,000 MW in new capacity by 2019.

Amid lingering doubts over PLN'€™s ability to deliver the new capacity, the company recently announced that the first project under the ambitious program had been completed.

 '€œTwo gas engine power plants in Gorontalo with combined capacity of 50 MW have been completed, the first project accomplished under the 35,000 MW program. Two other units are expected to add another 50 MW by the end of February,'€ said Machnizon Masri, PLN'€™s regional business director for Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara.