First In Aceh, PLTA Peusang Capacity 88 MW Will Operate At The End Of 2024

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) through the Directorate General of Electricity continues to encourage the acceleration of the use of green energy for power plants.

This was conveyed by the Director General of Electricity, Jisman P. Hutajulu during a working visit to the Peusangan Water Power Plant (88 MW) in Central Aceh, Aceh Province.

"The Peusangan hydropower plant is the first hydropower plant in Aceh Province and currently the physical progress in the field has reached 94.71 percent which is planned for the Commercial Operation Date (COD) unit 1 (45 MW) at the end of 2024 and unit 2 (43 MW) in May 2025," said Jisman, Thursday, April 25.

Jisman hopes to get COD according to the target, because in terms of land acquisition, construction, it has reached more than 90 percent.

He said that the challenges ahead in the electricity sector are not only related to reliability, efficiency and cheap electricity prices, but also environmental problems, which have an impact on demand for emission management and increasing the use of clean energy.

"Hopefully it will be completed by the end of December, this is important for the state, PLN and also the community. For the state, it is clear that the government supports the decarbonization and net zero emmission, and we want to reduce emissions in our country and support reducing emissions in the world," explained Jisman.

The Peusangan hydropower plant, he said, will be one of the backbones of the use of clean energy on the island of Sumatra, because it has a very important role in meeting the needs of electricity, especially for the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra.

PLTA Peusangan has a role as a baseload generator, lowering the cost of providing electricity (BPP), increasing the reliability of the system, contributing to the Bauran EBT by 0.61 percent in achieving the national mix target and in the long term it will reduce LNG consumption in North Sumatra.

Director of New Renewable Mega Projects and Energy of PT PLN (Persero) Wiluyo Kusdwiharto, on the same occasion said that this PLTA Peusangan is the longest hydropower project in history.

"From 1994 it started with a preparatory work and was stopped in 1996 because there was a socio-political problem, then it was resumed in 2011, and until 2024 the progress has reached 94 percent," said Wiluyo.

Wiluyo explained that related to the obstacles that exist in the construction of the Peusangan hydropower plant, it is technically possible for PLN to be resolved, currently only resolving issues related to social problems. For this reason, PLN will do sosialization to the community regarding the impact and benefits of the Peusangan hydropower plant.

To note, the funding for the Peusangan hydropower plant is currently being financed by Funding from JICA Japan. In its planning, the electricity generated from the Peusangan hydropower plant will be evacuated through the 150 kV PLTA Peusangan 1 - Takengon transmission line and the 150 kV PLTA Peusangan 2 - Bireun transmission and the 20 kV distribution of North Takengon - South Takengon which has now been completed.