Malaysia to provide electricity for Sumatra

The Jakarta Post,  Jakarta | Thu, 02/12/2009 2:16 PM  

Malaysian Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications is planning to export electricity power of up to 45 percent from the government's reserves margin to Sumatra in the near future. 

Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor said Wednesday the move was in view of the high demand for electricity in Indonesia and it would also help Malaysia to reduce its reserves margin which is still at a very high level. 

"The ministry has met with Indonesia's Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), to discuss the matter and there will be another meeting Thursday," he said as quoted by Malaysia's national news agency, Bernama. 

Shaziman said the ministry was planning to build an energy grid from Malaysia to Sumatra. He also said that there were no plans to build any more power generation plants in Peninsular Malaysia considering that the country's power reserves were still very high. (dre)