The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Indonesia has been awarded a $380 million loan by the World Bank, for the construction of the 1 GW Upper Cisokan Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant in Indonesia. The project has been under development since 1986 and entails a cost of $800 million.
The facility will be set up in West Java, occupying an area across two water reservoirs in West Bandung regency and Cianjur regency. It will comprise four units with a capacity of 260 MW each, with a total pump capacity estimated to be 1.1 GW. The generation and pump duration is estimated to be 6.5 hours and 8.5 hours per day, at maximum output, respectively. One of the two dams is yet to be constructed. The project is planned to be operational between 2024-25.
The plant is expected to generate power to meet peak demand and provide the needed storage capacity, thereby, reducing transmission load on the grid. It will enable the integration of reliable renewable energy into two large demand centers, Java and Bali. Presently, more than 80 per cent of the power generated in the Java-Bali circuit is derived from fossil fuels. This covers over 70 per cent of the country’s entire population.
The Government of Indonesia is actively engaged in reducing the country’s carbon emissions through the development of clean energy sources. Emission reduction in Indonesia’s energy sector can be expected to be driven by renewable energy generation and greater efficiency in power transmission.
