Government Builds Micro Hydro Electricity In Arfak Mountains, West Papua

The groundbreaking activity for the construction of a micro-hydro power plant in Upper Village, Anggi District, Arfak Mountains, West Papua on Wednesday (25/5/2022). (ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources together with the West Papua regional government built a micro hydro power plant (PLTMH) in Upper Village, Anggi District, Arfak Mountains, West Papua.

The government built the power plant as a form of implementation of the diesel power plant dedieselization program into new and renewable energy plants that are more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

"This step will support the government's program for dediselization, so slowly start eliminating diesel that uses non-renewable fuel," said Director of Planning and Infrastructure Development for New Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Hendra Iswahyudi in a statement quoted by Antara, Saturday, 28 May.

The government projects the potential for hydroelectric power generation in West Papua to be enormous, at more than 3,000 megawatts. This has the potential to increase the reliability of electricity supply, as well as for the dedieselization program.

The project for the construction of a micro hydro power plant in Anggi District, Arfak Mountains, has entered groundbreaking and will be built within six months. The government targets the project to be completed in November 2022.

"With the potential of available land and rivers, as well as labor and building materials and the community, it is possible to be empowered so that a PLTMH is built in this area," said the Regent of Arfak Mountains Regency, Yosias Saroy.

The construction of the power plant uses the State Budget of the Directorate General of New Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources with a capacity of 135 kWe through an on-grid scheme connected to the electricity network of the Manokwari Customer Service Implementing Unit (UP3).

Anggi's electricity system consists of an isolated system supplied from three PLTD engines which are assets belonging to the Arfak Mountains Regency Government. Meanwhile, the management and operation of the electricity system is carried out by PT PLN (Persero) UP3 Manokwari - UPL Prafi through the Operation Handover (STO) cooperation agreement.

As of March 2022, the number of customers of PT PLN (Persero) UP3 Manokwari on the Anggi electricity system was 682 customers with a total connected power of 968.10 kVa.