Indonesia Aims To Build 36 Solar Power Plants In 2013

(Before It's News)

The Indonesian government has allocated a higher budget for solar development this year. The government is planning to build 36 new solar power plants especially in isolated and border areas.

Image Credit: SenatorMarkUdall / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

The central government and its provincial counterparts have set aside 1 trillion Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) — approximately $103 million — for solar development this year. This will be a significant increase from last  year’s IDR 700 billion budget.

If Indonesia is able to add 36 solar power plants this year, that will put its total at 153 solar power plants, up from last year’s 117.

The director of renewable energy and energy conservation at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Alihudin Sitompul, thinks that the development of solar power plants face tougher financial, technical, and other constraints than other types of power sources. He went on to say at a workshop on renewable energy in Jakarta:

So far, our policies regarding the development of solar power plants are already good. However, our partners should be able to decide whether the [solar plant projects] are feasible or not, so that they do not force themselves to do them, he told local media that forcing unfeasible projects to realization often results in delays, improper installation, lower quality plants and higher prices.

That sounds like a statement from a utility or fossil fuel exec, doesn’t it?

Although Indonesia has trailed behind its neighbors, like Thailand and Malaysia, in solar power development, Indonesia has been picked out as one of the most important emerging markets for solar in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia, with its thousands of surrounding islands, is also predicted to gain ground with the provision of distributed electricity via solar power.

Indonesia Aims To Build 36 Solar Power Plants In 2013 was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook (also free!), follow us on Twitter, or just visit our homepage (yep, free).

• Nathan Jurczyk and Merchant Services, Inc. Urge Participation in 2013 Coastal Cleanup
• Historic snows hit Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa – Snowfall unprecedented in the historical record for the month of May
• Colorado Clean Energy Win
• Oil Companies Have Master Limited Partnerships, Why Can’t Clean Energy Companies?
• 49 years of undue delays in the EU Approval of GM Products
• Soap Operas & PACE Financing
• Mark Tercek: A New Diet for the Planet?
• NY Times Criticizes Itself For Touting Myth That It Is Too Late To Avoid Climate Catastrophe, Part 2
• To Texas: Want More Jobs & Fewer Blackouts? Go Solar
• Prime Energy Solutions and Benekov Problems