Rosatom has signed an agreement with Indonesia’s PT Pembangkit Listrik Nuklir to supply 200 MW of electricity from floating nuclear units. The deal was signed on Friday, 16 October, in Moscow on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week. The recipient is North Maluku province, in the east of the archipelago.
The project calls for two FPU-100 units, each rated at 100 MW, powered by RITM-series marine reactors. The units will serve the northern part of Halmahera island. According to Rosatom, the first electricity supply could begin within five years of the main terms of the supply contract entering into force.
Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev called the agreement the world’s first export deal for electricity generated by a floating nuclear unit. Rosatom notes that RITM reactors have years of operating experience aboard Russian nuclear icebreakers. Likhachev added that the agreement lays the groundwork for a long-term partnership and supports Indonesia’s energy security and carbon neutrality goals.
The floating format makes geographic sense. Indonesia has more than 13,000 islands, and bringing power to remote areas through conventional grids costs time and money. A unit built in a shipyard and towed by sea avoids much of the on-site work. Russia already has experience in this field: in Chukotka it is completing four floating platforms with RITM-200S reactors, intended to power mines and a new port.
The agreement is part of a broader relationship. Russia’s first deputy prime minister indicated that small-scale floating supplies could be the first phase of a cooperation that may later extend to large-capacity plants. Jakarta, which aims to have its first nuclear power plant in operation by 2032, sees the contract as a way to bring nuclear into the country’s electricity mix.
It remains to be seen when the contract terms will enter into force, as that date starts the five-year countdown. If the timeline holds, Halmahera could become Indonesia’s first nuclear-powered site in the early 2030s and a testing ground for other island nations.
