PLN starts Indonesia-Malaysia transmission line project

Indonesia's PLN has initiated land acquisition for the transmission line that will connect Indonesian and Malaysian power grids.

There would be two transmission lines, first, from South Sumatra to Malaysian peninsula, second, from West Kalimantan to Serawak.

PLN president director Nur Pamudji said the company has initiated land acquisitions for the West Kalimantan-Serawak transmission this year. 

He said that the West Kalimantan-Serawak transmission would be 122 kilometers long, and it would have the capacity of 275 kilovolt.

PLN was in the process of establishing a joint venture company to handle the transmission line operation for the South Sumatra-Malaysian peninsula line, Pamudji said.

PLN would use a subsea cable with the capacity of 250 kV high voltage direct current  to connect the Sumatra-Malaysia transmission line, which is expected to start operations in 2017.

“In 2017, we expect that if we could fulfill Sumatra’s domestic electricity needs, then we would have a surplus of electricity to be exported,” said Pamudji, who estimated that they would need at least US$2.09 million to realize the project.

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