PLN halts 22GW of power projects in Indonesia over sluggish demand

6.6GW of these are renewable projects.

Indonesia state-owned power utility PT PLN has officially cancelled the allocation of around 22,000 MW of power projects, due to low electricity demand in 2017. In the previous version of its 2017-2026 electricity procurement business plan (RUPTL), PT PLN forecast electricity consumption to increase by an average 8.8%/year over this period, requiring the development of 77,900 MW of new power projects. However, electricity sales grew by only 3.6% in 2017, raising concerns over a potential oversupply: the revised version of its 2017-2026 RUPTL now plans the development of 56,000 MW of new power projects, based on an average electricity consumption growth of 6.9%/year over the next decade.

Among the 21,900 MW of power projects removed from the plans, PT PLN scrapped around 10,000 MW of gas-fired and CCGT projects, 6,600 MW of renewable projects and around 5,000 MW of coal-fired power projects. Expansion plans could be revised again if electricity demand suddenly increases later.

Indonesia plans to commission only 20 GW of power plants under the 35 GW capacity programme by 2019.

This article was originally published by Enerdata.