JAKARTA – Indonesian state utility company PLN is gearing up to provide gas-powered electricity to part of East Indonesia, using a floating facility and onshore generation capacities, after massive blackouts last year dampened investor confidence in the mineral-rich region, sources said.

The measure – coming in the wake of pressure on PLN from the South Sulawesi provincial government – is a temporary solution to ensure industrial parks have adequate power for furnaces. Most of the tenants in these parks make nickel chemical compounds used in the nationally important production of electric vehicle (EV) car batteries.