Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The Indonesian government will start building a battery energy storage system (BESS) this year with a capacity of 5 megawatts.

The project will be worked on by the state-owned electricity company (PLN) and the IBC (Indonesia Battery Corporation).

The project is a follow-up to IBC's work plan to start a battery ecosystem in the country to accelerate the green energy transition and achieve its carbon neutrality target by 2060.

"The development of renewable energy power plants is currently dominated by solar and wind power plants which are intermittent," the PLN's Director of Corporate Planning Evy Haryadi said in a statement here on Thursday (March 17).

Evy added that the PLN has planned to convert diesel power plants to renewable energy-based plants in the near future.

This year, the company plans to convert 250 megawatts of diesel power plants to solar power plants.

In line with the plan, the role of the energy storage system is very important to supply electricity to customers continually for 24 hours.

To build BESS, the PLN involved its subsidiaries engaged in power generation, namely PT Indonesia Power (IP) and PT Pembangkitan Jawa Bali (PJB), as well as the Electricity Maintenance Center business unit. Later on, the energy storage system technology will be applied in the PLN's all power plants.

After carrying out the pilot project, the joint operation is expected to be implemented in the PLN's program to decrease diesel power generation operations.

In addition, the PLN is also collaborating with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and True Digital Leader (TDL) for green energy development projects in the two countries through research and implementation of BESS, electric tube, and peak shaving in the renewable energy sector.

Through this collaboration, the PLN, KEPCO, and TDL will conduct a proof of concept and BESS business through researches on an integration of renewable energy and power consumption reduction in the PLN’s networks.

The PLN is also collaborating with PT Energi Indonesia Berkarya (EIB), which is a subsidiary of the Sinarmas group, in developing the electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia.

The PLN and the EIB will cooperate in providing electric vehicle charging services in the forms of charging stations and home charging facility.

In addition, the PLN and the EIB will also work together in providing two-wheeled and four-wheeled electric vehicles, developing green tourism strategies, smart regions, green corridors, and digital signage.

Reporting by Indonesia Window