JAKARTA, investor.id – PT Arkora Hydro Tbk (ARKO) is targeting to reach an agreement on a power purchase agreement (PPA) with state-owned electricity company PT PLN (Persero) this year.
Arkora’s Head of Investor Relations, Nico Yosafat, stated that Arkora currently has contracted capacity of 42.8 MW and is pursuing over 200 MW (specifically 261.2 MW) in its pipeline, spread across various locations from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, to Sulawesi.
Arkora, as Nico added, is focused on accelerating capacity growth through higher business expansion while creating more clean energy. For this reason, ARKO prioritizes large-scale projects exceeding 10 MW.
“Our hope is that this year we can finalize or achieve the PPA with PLN. We also hope to secure a larger hydroelectric power plant (PLTA) capacity compared to what we currently have,” Nico explained at the recent Investor Daily Market Today event.
Over the next two years, the renewable energy (EBT) subsidiary of the Astra Group is expected to secure another PPA with PT PLN (Persero) for a larger capacity.
It is worth noting that Arkora currently has three operational PLTA projects: Cikopo II, Tomasa, and PLTA Yaentu. The other two projects, Kukusan 2 and Tomoni, are still under construction and are targeted to begin operations in the third quarter of 2025 and 2026, respectively.
Catalyst
The end of El Niño's negative impact at the end of 2024 has brought a breath of fresh air to ARKO's performance in the first quarter of 2025. Evidently, the company was able to record a sharp increase in net profit from IDR 15.2 billion to IDR 20.9 billion in the first three months of this year.
This increase in net profit is attributed to ARKO's sales performance, which recorded significant growth from Rp 45.8 billion in the first quarter of 2024 to Rp 70 billion in the first quarter of 2025.
According to Nico, rainfall returned to normal levels between January and March 2025, resulting in higher water discharge from rivers managed by Arkora. As a result, the company generated more electricity.
Nico added that the high rainfall is expected to continue until the end of the year so that Arkora can produce more electricity, which will ultimately have a positive impact on ARKO's top line and bottom line performance.
Demand
Nico projects that demand for electricity sourced from clean energy will continue to increase in the future. Reflecting on the level of electricity demand in the global market, which has experienced growth mainly driven by three major industries.
First, the cooling system industry, such as air conditioning. Second, the electrification and transportation industry. The third industry is data centers, in line with the growing trends of artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and other data center-related technologies.
