Five Smelter Companies In Sulawesi Receive Up To 1.026 MVA PLN Electricity Supply

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT PLN (Persero) will supply 1.026 megavolt amperes (MVA) of electricity to five mineral processing and refining plants or smelters on the island of Sulawesi.

One of these companies is PT Huadi Nickel Alloy Indonesia (HNI) which again added 90 MVA of power through the signing of an electric power purchase agreement (SPJBTL) with PLN on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.

On the same occasion, four smelter companies also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to connect new high-voltage smelter consumers with PLN with a total power of 936 MVA.

The four are PT Celebessi Metalindo Utama (CMU), PT Buttatoa Smelter Pratama (BSP), PT Central Omega Resources Industri Indonesia Tbk (CORII), and PT Industri Smelter Nusantara (ISN).

PLN Regional Business Director for Sulawesi, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara and Papua, Adi Priyanto, stated that the smelter is one of the strategic projects to support mineral downstreaming in Indonesia. Therefore, PLN is committed to meeting electricity needs and providing the best service for the smelter industry.

"The smelter industry is a mineral downstream that requires a large amount of electrical energy and PLN is ready to fulfill it with reliable, quality, and competitively priced electricity supplies," he said, quoted Thursday, April 7.

Adi said the reliability of PLN's electricity could be proven by the continued increase in demand for additional electrical power from HNI. The initial collaboration between PLN and HNI which was established in August 2018 was in the form of a 40 MVA electricity supply from PLN, and has continued to increase until now it has reached 220 MVA.

Through the Power Purchase Agreement Letter (SPJBTL) signed today, HNI will get additional power of 90 MVA in December 2022.

"In addition, HNI is also committed in March 2023 to again add 30 MVA of electrical power, bringing the total installed capacity in March 2023 to 340 MVA," explained Adi.

He predicts that the demand for electricity in Sulawesi will increase in line with the growth of the industry in the region, including the smelter industry. The electricity demand for smelter facilities in Sulawesi is projected to be more than 6.000 MVA.

This is indicated by the demand for power supply from a number of smelter companies today, namely, PT Celebessi Metalindo Utama with a power requirement of 450 MVA, PT Buttatoa Smelter Pratama of 236 MVA, PT Central Omega Resources Industri Indonesia Tbk (CORII) of around 180 MVA, and PT Industri Smelter Nusantara (ISN) of 70 MVA.

President Director of PT Huadi Nickel Alloy Indonesia, Jos Stefan Hideky, said that the presence of a smelter has proven to be able to encourage economic growth. Therefore, the demand for reliable and quality electricity from PLN is expected to continue.

"We hope that this PJBTL can make cooperation even better in the future," he said.

He also explained, since HNI started producing ferronickel, economic growth in Bantaeng grew by double digits, 12 percent.

"Even last year Bantaeng recorded the highest economic growth in South Sulawesi," said Jos.

President Director of PT Celebessi Metalindo Utama Teddy MI Haykal also admitted that electricity for the smelter industry is like breath. For this reason, the company chose to get electricity supply from PLN after a long consideration.

"After considering, we decided to synergize with PLN. Thank you, especially to PLN, for convincing us that the supply of electricity for smelters is fully supported," said Teddy.

Adi also ensures that PLN is ready to meet the electricity needs of the smelter industry in Sulawesi with green energy. Moreover, the potential for renewable energy in the Sulawesi region is very abundant, ranging from water resources, geothermal, wind power, and others.

In the 2021-2030 Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL), PLN will develop a power plant of 783.09 MW in the Sulawesi region. Most of it comes from NRE plants which reach 397 MW or 51 percent. While the rest are fossil generators of 386 MW or 49 percent.

"Electricity needs in the Sulawesi region are currently partially fulfilled by EBT-based power plants," he said.

PLN also has a renewable energy certificate (REC) product that can be utilized by customers to meet the target of using renewable energy that is transparent and internationally recognized. This product is one of PLN's green product innovations to make it easier for customers to purchase and gain recognition for the use of renewable energy that already exists in Indonesia.

"If needed, we are also ready to complement the needs of the national smelter industry by providing innovative products and services, such as total solutions for electricity needs, as well as Green Products such as REC," he said.