PLN TO RAISE ITS ELECTRICITY CAPACITY TO 38,000 MEGAWATTS

Surabaya, Dec 6 (ANTARA) - State-owned power utility company PLN is ready to increase its designed electricity production capacity to 38,000 megawatts by 2014, its chief said.

For this purpose, PLN is now expanding its networks into remote areas throughout the country. "At present PLN's designed capacity is recorded at 30,000 MW which is expected to meet the need for electricity supply throughout the country," PLN president Director Fachmi Mochtar said here on over the weekend.

He said that with the targeted designed capacity of 38,000 MW by 2014, rotating blackouts would no longer be necessary. "We believed in 2014 there will no longer be power outage in the regions," he said.

The PLN chief said that the company would be able to eliminate any disrupted power supply the Java-Bali power grid in 2010, so that since then customers throughout the country would no longer be disturbed by power cuts.

He said that the target was in line with the present downward trend in power outage. "At present only 12 locations outside Java would still have blackouts while in 2007, 31 locations often experienced electricity outage," Fachmi said.

In order to support the plan to increase the designed capacity to 38,000 MW, PLN needs Rp822 trillion, consisting of Rp310 trillion for the construction of new power plants, Rp136 trillion for transmission networks, Rp97 trillion for distribution networks and Rp297 trillion for other purposes. But PLN does not have enough funds to realize the projects, he said.

"In order to expedite the realization of the projects, we are giving investors a chance to take part and to invest their capital in the PLN projects, for example, in the financing of transmission network development," he said.***2***