Sunseap, Riau Islands to build large-scale solar energy plants

SUNSEAP has tied up with the provincial government of Indonesia's Riau Islands to develop large-scale solar energy plants and storage systems.

These solar energy plants will supply electricity to the Riau Islands and Singapore, Sunseap said in a press statement on Tuesday (Apr 19).

Sunseap co-founder and business chief executive officer Frank Phuan said the plants would also create thousands of jobs "in a fast-growing industry for the Riau province".

Both parties have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering 3,000 hectares of available land for Sunseap to build the solar energy plants and energy storage systems.

The clean energy solutions provider said it has looked into the feasibility of a 1,380-megawatt peak (MWp) solar power plant and a 3,000-megawatt hour (MWh) energy storage system on Combol island.

On Citlim Island, Sunseap is exploring the development of a 1,682 MWp solar plant and 3,500 MWh energy storage system.

The move comes around 6 months after Sunseap signed an MoU with various local and international partners to explore and develop solar power and energy storage systems around the Riau Islands.

These partners include BP Batam, Mustika Combol Indah, Agung Sedayu, Sumitomo Corporation, Samsung C&T Corporation, Oriens Asset Management, ESS Inc and Durapower Group.

Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad said: "With Sunseap's expertise, we hope to accelerate our plans to transform Riau Islands into a renewable energy hub in Indonesia and to lower energy costs for our people and our industries."

He noted that the Riau Islands have abundant resources to produce renewable energy, including sun, wind, biomass and biogas.