PT Siemens Indonesia, the local unit of German engineering conglomerate Siemens AG, wants to strengthen its presence in Indonesia by aiming to participate in a major share of the government’s ambitious 35,000-megawatt (MW) power plant project through 2019. 

The company, which has invested over ¤200 million (US$227 million) in the country in the last two decades, will supply cutting-edge technology for the ambitious project as well as other energy or transportation projects, a top executive has said.

“We have a strategy that we constantly want to increase our local footprints [including in Indonesia]. We’ve invested in the last 20 years and we want to continue all of that,” said Siemens Indonesia CEO Josef Winter. 

With its established technology in power plant and energy distribution, Siemens was willing to participate with a major share in the 35,000-MW project, Winter said in a press briefing during the 40th anniversary of the firm’s plant in Pulomas, Jakarta, on Thursday. 

Manufacturing products ranging from energy transmitters to smart grid solutions and services, Siemens Indonesia has exported worldwide many of its products made at the Pulomas factory, particularly across Asia. 

The company currently operates two factories in the country, namely the Cilegon plant that produces steam and gas turbines and the Pulomas plant that makes switchgears and control panels. 

Roland Busch, a member of the managing board of Siemens AG, said that his firm would be committed to participating not only to provide technology for the government’s power plant projects, but also for high voltage energy transmission. 

In Indonesia alone, Siemens has generated around 11 percent of the country’s power with its technology. 

It has also turned Indonesia into one of its production hubs for the Asian market, serving Southeast Asia and part of its Australian market. 

Busch said Indonesia would remain pivotal for his company as it was not only the largest economy in the Southeast Asian region, but was forecast to still have a young, productive population by 2030, providing a huge local workforce for Siemens’ operations in the country in the years to come.

Industry Minister Saleh Husin said the government lauded Siemens’ active improvement of local content in their products and urged any private companies willing to take part in the mega power plant project to boost their local content. 

He estimated that Siemens would participate in the development of power plants providing around 16,000 to 20,000 MW of the total targeted 35,000 MW. 

Busch added that Siemens would continuously invest in the Asian region as it was projected to contribute around 40 percent of global domestic product growth in the next five years. 

“We’re also currently regarding our market share in the region as still underrepresented. Our target will be to get our market share in Asia [the] same as we have in Europe,” he said, without detailing the firm’s market share in Europe. 

Globally, Siemens earned 71.9 billion euro in revenue last year, with 26 percent coming from America, 9 percent from China, 11 percent from Asia and Australia and 54 percent from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.