CPO Companies Requested to Share Excess Power

Kotabaru, South Kalimantan 25/1 (AntaranewsKalsel) - Legislators in Kotabaru, South Kalimantan, urged the local government to coordinate with PT PLN for involving CPO companies to distribute their surplus electrical power to the surrounding community.

Chairman of Commission II DPRD Kotabaru Syairi Mukhlis here on Wednesday said there is suspicion of a number of palm oil processing company apathy, as if unwilling to share power, even though there is an excess of electricity than is needed for their factories.

"Should the local government took PT PLN to coordinate with CPO companies in Kotabaru, because technically PLN know how big the capacity of the power produced by palm oil industry and how much is needed," said Syairi.

It needs to be done, according Syairi, because many people in Kotabaru, especially in remote areas, have not been able to enjoy electricity from PLN, especially those around oil palm plantation.

Admittedly, one obstacle is the availability of a network that can not reach these areas, because of the vast territory but has not been matched by infrastructure.

Therefore, in addition to expecting the central government's readiness to build power plants and realization of connectivity between PLTU Asam-asam dan PLTU Sigam, the government should pursue other efforts.

"One of them intensely involve PLN and companies operate in Kotabaru to overcome the problem of power shortages for people in the area," he said.

The former village head said, the network connection of Sigam power plant with a capacity of 2x7 MW will be possible to supply electricity to 21 villages in Kotabaru in 2017 to 2019.