Jakarta—Singapore-based investment firm Clifford Capital revealed that it has partnered with Société Générale as a co-lender to finance Indonesia’s first co-located solar PV and battery energy storage system (BESS) in the new capital city, Nusantara, known as IKN.
Clifford Capital, founded in 2012, is an infrastructure credit platform specialising in global infrastructure debt origination, distribution, and investment. Headquartered in Singapore, the company benefits from the Singapore government guarantees with a policy mandate to support companies with a Singapore nexus.
The solar power plant and BESS project, called the Nusantara Sembcorp Solar Energi (NSSE) Power Plant, is jointly developed by PLN Nusantara Power, a unit of state electricity company PLN and PT Nusantara Sembcorp Solar Energi, the Indonesian unit of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries Ltd.
PLN said the NSSE power plant, which is built at the point with the highest irradiation level in the IKN area, is projected to produce 92.8 GWh of green energy. The power plant area, developed on 87 hectares of land, is located 5 km from the heart of IKN.
This 50MW solar plant with a 14.2MWh BESS will help supply renewable energy to power Indonesia’s new capital, IKN. This green power plant will be the backbone of electricity in the IKN and can reduce 104,864 tons of CO2 emissions annually, PLN claimed.
Jen Tan, Head of Renewables (Singapore and Indonesia) at Sembcorp Industries, said, “Sembcorp is pleased to partner with PLN in this project. Leveraging our experience, we will deploy advanced energy storage to pair with the latest solar technology in this landmark utility-scale project.”
PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo highlighted the company’s commitment to supporting the government’s vision of achieving energy independence through electricity infrastructure focused on new and renewable energy (NRE).
“Energy transition is not only aimed at reducing emissions but also at balancing growth and environmental sustainability,” said Darmawan in a statement on Sunday (January 26).
Darmawan said late last year that the above solar power plant, which has a capacity of 3.5 MW, currently supplies all of IKN’s electricity consumption. The plant’s excess capacity will be transmitted to the Kalimantan power grid system.
PLN said the power plant’s first phase has shown a positive impact. In the initial phase, the power plant saved 983.95 tons of coal as well as prevented emissions in the amount of 1,170 tons of CO2, which is equal to planting 1,600 units of trees. (Roffie Kurniawan)
