In order to strengthen the electricity system in Indonesia, the State Electricity Company or PLN has collaborated with a South Korean submarine cable company for the development of underground and marine cables.
This collaboration between PLN and LS Corporation was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding/MoU by PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo and Chairman of LS Group, Ja Eun Koo, LS. The MoU was held on Thursday (28/7/2022), at Lotte Hotel Seoul and witnessed directly by the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir.
PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo said that PLN has a duty from the government to continue to increase the electrification ratio in remote areas of the country.
The geographical condition of Indonesia as an archipelagic country is a challenge for PLN which requires the development of special skills to build electricity networks through marine cables technology or underground cables.
“To be able to increase the electrification ratio in Indonesia, one of the options is to expand the electricity network between regions and even between islands. For that, we at PLN need to deepen the technology of submarine cables,” said Darmawan in a press release, Thursday (28/7/2022).
Submarine cables are also needed to build network interconnections to support the development of new and renewable energy (EBT). This interconnection concept can be a solution to the problem of intermittent solar power plants (PLTS).
Not only that, the need for land acquisition and the Right of Way (RoW) for the transmission network requires relatively large and complex funds, so it is necessary to study the use of underground cables.
Darmawan explained that through this MoU PLN will explore cooperation with LS Corporation, and continue with the discussion, study, and knowledge transfer activities which will be regulated in a more detailed agreement text.
“The MoU is intended to regulate provisions to prepare follow-up actions,” he said.
On the other hand, he said, PLN needed benchmarking and studies on the development of underground cables and submarine cables, both AC and DC for various voltages, which were projected to be more competitive, especially for developments such as offshore wind turbines.
“And of course the use of land cables for load growth in urban areas and the use of inter-island sea cables,” he said.
Darmawan added, that in this collaboration, there will be an increase in human resource capacity and knowledge transfer in the field of submarine cables and land cables.
Furthermore, PLN and LS Corporation will also explore the potential for cooperation in the development of energy infrastructure and manufacturing facilities for submarine cables and land cables in Indonesia.
It is known, that LS Corporation has a reputation as one of the global companies for technology providers for underground cables and submarine cables.
