TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Climate change hurts hydropower production, PLN says
PLN's hydropower in South Sulawesi lost about 75 percent of its electricity generation capacity last year due to the extended dry season.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
PT Poso Energy, a Kalla Group renewable energy subsidiary, operates the 515 megawatt (MW) Poso hydropower project in Poso, Central Sulawesi. (Kalla Group/-)
E
xtreme weather caused by the El Niño phenomenon and driven by climate change, has disrupted electricity production from hydropower plants operated by state-owned utility company PT PLN, the company said.
For instance, PLN has a production capacity of up to 800 megawatts (MW) of electricity from its hydropower projects in South Sulawesi, but an extended dry season cut production to just 200 MW last year, according to the company’s subsidiary PLN Nusantara Power.
“About 75 percent of the capacity was lost,” PLN Nusantara Power finance director Dwi Hartono said on Wednesday, as quoted from Antara.
To make up for the supply loss, the company compensated by generating electricity from diesel- and gas-powered plants, which both have more expensive operating costs and rely on climate-change inducing fossil fuels.
In theory, PLN could produce electricity at a cost of between Rp 600 (0.37 US cent) and Rp 700 per kilowatthour (KWh) with its hydropower plants, but switching to oil and gas hiked the cost to Rp 2,500 per KWh.
However, longer dry seasons could be beneficial for solar power plant production, he said, implying more exposure to sunlight could allow the company to achieve its maximum output compared with seasons with rainfall.
"So there are two sides that we can always benefit from in this case," he added.
