Indonesia moves towards power grid resilience

Indonesia has made a significant move towards stabilising its grid as the country aims to realise its decarbonisation goals.

Electricity engineering consultancy PT PLN Engineering (PLNE), a subsidiary of Indonesia’s state-owned power distribution company PT PLN (Persero) (PLN), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with DNV, the independent energy expert and assurance provider.

Signed recently in Jakarta, the two-year MoU is intended as a cooperation plan in the design of disaster recovery control systems at PLN.

The types of system to be designed will be SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) and EMS (energy management systems). These will help support the reliable, efficient and safe operation of equipment in the smart power grids and microgrids with which Indonesia plans to power its net zero future.

Integrating power from renewables such as solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal into grids adds complexity to managing grid stability. With larger distributed generation and sensor network systems, more data than ever before needs to be managed for the network to run effectively. This makes SCADA/EMS crucial for maintaining balanced power flow throughout the generation, transmission and distribution chain.

Currently a major coal exporter in South-East Asia, Indonesia plans to phase out coal by 2055 and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060. However, it has struggled to find support for its phase-out plan, DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook 2023 notes.

The MoU expresses the parties’ mutual intentions to explore cooperation involving joint utilisation of resources, joint marketing and joint business development. An additional goal is to build the capacity of PLN-E’s employees through programs including local and/or overseas workshops.

“We are delighted to have struck this MoU to share DNV’s extensive local and international experience in technical advisory work for power grid systems, with a focus on SCADA/EMS design,” said Brice Le Gallo, Vice President and Regional Director APAC, Energy Systems at DNV.

“It stems from PLN-E’s vision to become a technology and engineering leader. Innovation and partnering with other technology leaders like DNV is part of PLN-E’s transformation strategy to achieve that vision.

“To unleash the potential of clean energy, investing in power grids is as important as investing in renewables developments, and collaboration is essential if smart grids are to maximise their potential to decarbonise energy systems,” Le Gallo concluded.

Image credit: iStock.com/Zulfan Monika