Indonesia - Malaysia electricity trade to begin 2014

Indonesia's PLN plans to begin trading between 50 to 100 kilowatts with Malaysia in 2014.

This wil be made possible by the construction of a 275-kilowatt transmission line connecting West Kalimantan and Sarawak.

This was revealed by PLN president director Nur Pamudji.

“Actually, we currently import electricity from Sarawak, but the  capacity is very small, below one megawatt from a micro hydro-power plant,” he said.

Nur Pamudji said another transmission line connecting Indonesia and  Malaysia would integrate coal-rich South Sumatera and Peninsular  Malaysia.

A 250 kilowatt sub-sea cable would be laid to deliver electricity from  coal-fired power plants in South Sumatera.

“However, discussions on the construction of the two transmission  lines have not yet gone into the details,” he said.

Meanwhile, Murtaqi Syamsuddin of PLN’s planning and risk management division said the company expected the tender process for the West Kalimantan–Sarawak transmission to begin this year.

The company would team up with Sarawak Energy Bhd to construct the network.

“Temporarily, after the completion of the transmission network, we  plan to import power from hydro-power plants in Sarawak,” he said adding that the power tariff for exports and imports would be determined through    business-to-business negotiations with partners subject to approval being sought from the Indonesian government.

The agreement for the West Kalimantan–Sarawak power transmission, spanning 122 km from Bengkayang in West Kalimantan to Mambong in Sarawak, was signed July last year.

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