JAKARTA: A 145-megawatt floating solar power plant, the largest in Southeast Asia, being built by Indonesia and the UAE could start operating next year, officials announced on securing final funding approval for the project.

Made up of more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia aims to achieve 23 percent renewable energy use by 2025, and 30 percent by 2050. Currently, 13 percent of its energy comes from renewable sources.

The development, built atop the Cirata reservoir in West Java province, will be the country’s first photovoltaic power plant. It is 51 percent owned by PT PJBI, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s state power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), with UAE renewable energy company Masdar owning the other 49 percent.

Masdar and PJBI have secured $140 million from multinational lenders for the project’s financing.

During a press conference, PJBI chief executive officer, Gong Matua Hasibuan, said: “We passed the critical phase of reaching financial close on Aug. 2 when our lenders Standard Chartered bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and Societe Generale confirmed that we have fulfilled all the requirements to get funding for this project.”

Addressing the same briefing, Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises deputy minister, Pahala Nugraha Mansury, said: “The Cirata floating power plant is expected as a venue for a transfer of technology in renewable energy development from UAE’s leading global renewable energy firm.”

He added that Indonesia hoped the link up would strengthen cooperation with the UAE.

The power plant is one of the projects under $22.9 billion investment agreements secured by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Abu Dhabi last year.

Construction of the floating photovoltaic power plant has already started, and when completed it will cover around 3 percent, or 250 hectares, of the total area of the Cirata reservoir, where PJBI already operates a 1,008-megawatt hydropower plant.

PLN’s chief executive officer, Zulkifli Zaini, said: “We are optimistic that with all the stakeholders’ support, this environmentally friendly power plant project could start its operation on target by the end of 2022.”

He added that the floating power plant would be a “revolutionary development” for the country’s national renewable energy targets, generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of 50,000 homes, and offsetting 214,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

“The Cirata floating solar power plant will contribute about 0.2 percent to our renewable energy mix,” Zaini added.

PLN currently operates power plants that produce 63 gigawatts of energy, out of which 7.9 gigawatts come from renewable sources.

While the Cirata project will be Indonesia’s first plant of its kind, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has estimated that the country could generate about 40 gigawatts from similar ones that could be developed in 375 locations on lakes and reservoirs.

According to a recent report by the Jakarta-based Institute for Essential Services Reform, it was feasible for Indonesia to use 100 percent of renewable energy in the power, heat, and transport sectors, but it would require at least $20 billion investment per year for the rest of this decade, increasing to $60 billion per year from 2030 to 2040.