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tate-owned electricity firm PT PLN will soon arrange a tender for the development of two power plant projects with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts (MW).

PLN president director Nur Pamudji said the projects, which he referred to as the Java 5 and 7 power plants, would have a capacity of 2x1,000 MW each.

'€œWe will announce [the schedule of] tenders soon. The coal fired power plants will be located in the western part of Java Island. They could be located in Banten, Jakarta or other places in the western area,'€ Pamudji said.

He declined to disclose the exact locations of the planned power plants.

Investment for one 2x1,000 power plant is estimated at around US$3 billion, according to Pamudji.

'€œThe plants are part of phase 2 of the fast track program,'€ he added.

Under the second phase of the electricity procurement fast track program (FTP-2), the government aims to increase electricity capacity by 17,918 MW. The program kicked off in 2010.

The FTP-2 follows the first acceleration program, FTP-1, which is expected to add 9,975 MW in capacity. The FTP-1 was launched in 2006 and should have been completed by 2010.

As of the end of July, however, the FTP-1 had only generated 7,258 MW. Completion is expected next year.

Earlier this week, the company inaugurated the operations of its nine new power plants '€” mostly under the FTP-1 program.

The nine power plants, which have a combined capacity of 2,093 MW, are coal fired power plant (PLTU) Nagan Raya Unit 1 and 2 with a capacity of 2x110 MW in Aceh, PLTU Tanjung Balai Karimun with 2x7 MW in Riau, PLTU Teluk Sirih 2x112 MW in West Sumatra, PLTU Tarahan Baru 100 MW in Lampung, PLTU Pelabuhan Ratu 3x350 MW in West Java, PLTU Tanjung Awar-Awar 350 MW in East Java, PLTU Barru 2x50 MW in South Sulawesi, PLTU Kendari 10 MW in Southeast Sulawesi and PLTU Mataram 25 MW in West Nusa Tengara.

PLN'€™s director for construction ,Nasri Sebayang, said earlier that the company expected an additional 1,272.5 MW from power plants currently in the commissioning stage.

They are parts of several power plants that are in the commissioning stage with a combined capacity of 1,834 MW.

'€œOnly about 800 MW in capacity will be completed in 2015,'€ Nasri said.

The government is struggling to increase the electrification ratio in the country. As of the end of 2013, the country'€™s electrification ratio stood at 80.51 percent. The government aims to see the ratio rise slightly to 81.51 percent this year.

The country had 47,128 MW in installed electricity generation capacity as of the end of 2013, of which around 75 percent were operated by PLN.

As energy demand grows due to economic growth, the country needs to add an average 5,700 MW per year until 2022. Failure to increase capacity will cause an electricity crisis in the country.