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Manufacturing industry key to solving electricity oversupply bottleneck
Getting more manufacturing facilities to use electricity generated by the state electricity firm PLN could be the easiest way to tackle the country’s electricity supply glut, energy experts say.
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Hot topic: A furnace operates at the nickel-smelting facility belonging to PT VDNI on the Morosi industrial estate in Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, on Sept. 9. The company processes nickel to produce stainless steel. (Antara/Jojon)
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ndonesia’s electricity supply is expected to worsen, unless the government can double its efforts to grow the country’s manufacturing industry, which experts say is the easiest way to tackle the country’s electricity-supply glut.
Currently, state-owned electricity monopoly PLN generates more power than it can sell to consumers, leaving the excess to dissipate.
The largest excess supply occurred in the Java-Bali system, with more than 25,000 gigawatt hours (GWh), followed by the Sumatra system with almost 8,000 GWh in 2023, according to PLN’s long-term power procurement plan (RUPTL). Other regions also suffered similar issues, albeit at a far lesser scale.
It is estimated the excess supply in all regions will keep increasing. The projection for 2030 is more than 33,000 GWh and 10,000 GWh in Java-Bali and Sumatra systems respectively, according to the same document.
“The government must boost electricity usage by industry, especially from the manufacturing industry sector, to increase demand,” Abra Talattov, head of the Center for Food, Energy and Sustainable Development at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Read also: PLN aborts electric stove conversion program in last-minute decision
He argued the manufacturing sector required large amounts of energy to run its production facility, compared to other users like business and households, while at the same time creating jobs needed for the economy.
