Masdar (or the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) announced that it had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Indonesia’s state electricity company, for a 145 MW floating solar project, the first of its kind in the country.

The project, which would also be the UAE-based company’s first floating solar project, will be built on a 225-hectare plot of the 6,200-hectare Cirata Reservoir in the West Java Region of Indonesia, according to Masdar’s statement.

Masdar, the renewable energy arm of Mubadala, noted that it would develop the project with PT Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali (PT PJB), a subsidiary of PLN.

This floating solar project would be Masdar’s first venture into the Southeast Asian market.

“Leveraging innovative solutions such as this floating solar PV project will be critical to the nation achieving its renewable targets and to supporting its sustainable growth,” said Sultan bin Ahmad Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Chairman of Masdar.

“The Cirata floating PV project is a monumental renewable energy project for Indonesia and the biggest floating PV in South East Asia. It will improve the capability of the Jawa-Bali power system and also increase the renewable energy mix in Indonesia,” said Zulkifli Zaini, President Director, PLN. “The potential of similar projects is endless, and we anticipate construction should begin soon, aiming for commercial operation in 2022.”

This project also aims to help Indonesia achieve its energy goals. It aims for renewable energy to constitute 23% of its overall energy mix by 2025 and 31% by 2030. Boosting renewable energy in the country could also help it save $51.7 billion annually, including air pollution and climate change impacts, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Indonesia is also the world’s largest archipelago, with more than 17,000 islands, 521 natural lakes, and more than 100 reservoirs, covering about 21,000 square kilometers. Indonesia is also said to be planning to install floating solar PV projects on additional 60 reservoirs.

Previously, Mercom reported that Masdar has announced that it won a bid to develop Uzbekistan’s first public-private partnership (PPP) solar project under the International Finance Corporation’s “Scaling Solar” program.

Earlier, Masdar invested around $150 million in Hero Future Energies, one of the leading names in the clean energy space in India. This was the second such strategic investment in HFE since 2017 when an investment of $125 million was made by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank.

Image credit: Ocean Sun