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.
World's largest solar power plant project in West Java faces delays
Change Size
Engineers work on a solar panel. (Shutterstock/File)
I
t is back to square one for a development plan to build the world’s largest floating solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in West Java, as the government has decided to drop out of a deal that was made with the United Arab Emirates.
Plans were in place for solar PV panels to be jointly installed on 43,000 hectares of the Cirata Dam in Purwakarta by state electricity company PLN and renewable energy company Masdar of the UAE.
PLN and Masdar, representing their respective countries, inked in 2017 two agreements on the project, the construction of which was initially to begin in the second half of this year.
However, the Indonesian government said recently the deal must be dropped and the project must go through a tender process – not a direct appointment – to find a partner for PLN.
Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar confirmed the plan, saying PLN was to conduct a tender for the project soon, and expressed hope that the process could be completed “in a matter of months”.
“PLN has just finished the procedures to go through with a tender, such as reviewing the terms and conditions and also the price [of electricity]. Only after [a tender] can Masdar use its right to match [the bidders’ proposals],” he said.
The corporate secretary of electricity supplier Java Bali (PT PJB), Muhammad Bardan, could not be reached for comment regarding the exact timeframe for the tender and the companies that have expressed interest in it.
