Jakarta – The government is taking steps so that the State Electricity Company (PLN) can efficiently reduce the cost of supply (BPP) to maintain continuity of electricity supply, said President Director Darmawan Prasodjo in a written statement, Friday (1/7) .
PLN’s diesel-based electricity supply cost reached IDR 23 trillion when the Indonesian Crude Price (ICP) reached USD 63 per barrel. According to Prasodjo, the company is currently trying to shift its diesel power plants (PLTD) based on imported fuel to use gas and domestic new and renewable energy (NRE). The move, he said, was to cut wide operating expenses due to the increase in world crude oil prices this year.
“Currently, the price of crude oil is already above USD 110 per barrel, there is an impact on our cost increase, namely per dollar per barrel, the impact is USD 500 on operational costs. So, an increase of USD 40 to USD 45 will have an impact of USD 20 trillion to USD 23 trillion for our BPP,” said Prasodjo.
PLN operates 5,200 diesel power plants (PLTD) in remote areas, and plans to convert them to new renewable energy (NRE). Prasodjo said that currently PLN is in the process of commissioning the PLTD conversion in 200 locations and will continue to add to it in 250 locations.
“There are some PLTD generators that consume fossil fuel, which can be eliminated with additional transmission and distribution. The remaining 52 diesel-based generators will be gasified or their energy sources converted to natural gas,” he added. (Hartatik)
