"The 50 MW electricity will start coming in the middle of 2015 and if they are ready we will take up to 230 MW in that year," Nur Pamudji said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s state-ownned electricity company PT PLN plans to import electricity from Malaysia`s Serawak Energy Berhad up to 230 MW at a price of nine US dollar cent per kWh, PLN's President Director Nur Pamudji said.

He said here on Thursday that at the initial stage PLN would import 50 MW to later increase to 230 MW.

"The 50 MW electricity will start coming in the middle of 2015 and if they are ready we will take up to 230 MW in that year," he said.

PLN and SEB signed the cooperation agreement for power inter-connection between West Kalimantan and Serawak on Thursday.

Nur said the agreement would be effective for five years from 2015 to 2020 and reviewed afterwards.

"After five years PLN could decide to export or import depending of economic calculations," he said.

Nur said the non-escalation price was not too high considering that building a power plant would be more expensive.

Later, he said, PLN would not have to build small power plants with a capacity of only 25 MW or 50 MW in West Kalimantan due to the agreement.

"To build a small capacity power plant is expensive and inefficient. We must as well just build a 100 MW capacity plant to be efficient," he said.

He said West Kalimantan has huge coal reserves that could be used for it but a big electricity system must first be made available.

"The cooperation with Serawak is made in the framework of the program," he said.

He said electricity system in Serawak has reached 6,000 MW while in West Kalimantan it is still recorded at 150MW.

"If the system is small and covered by the big system it would be the small one that would benefit," he said.

The 122 kilometer long 125 kV and 275 kV interconnection stretches from the district of Bengkayang in West Kalimantan and Mambong in Serawak.

Part of the cable network measuring 86 kilometer long is located in West Kalimantan and its development is financed by PLN while the rest is in Serawak built by SEB.

The electricity supply from the 1,300 MW plant in Serawak will enter through the Bengkayang grid.

The interconnection network is financed by the ADB and the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) totaling US$99 million.

An international interconnection is common and found also in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, European countries and even between Israel and Palestine. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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