Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 48 2020

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energy sources by 2019, but it only reached
12.36 percent that year, according to energy
ministry data.
Indonesia has also pledged to make solar
contribute 5.7 percent to the country’s power
by 2025, yet solar only contributed 0.1 percent
in 2019.

COAL-FIRED GENERATION

Pakistan, China to sign
Gwadar power plant

agreement next month

Pakistan and China on Monday agreed to sign
campaign against the project. shut down the aging Suralaya coal-fired power a power purchase agreement next month for
The new entity will use Adani Ports’ plant (PLTU) in Cilegon, Banten, and replace 300 megawatts coal power plant to be set up
balance sheet to fund investments estimated at it with green energy, as Indonesia chases its with an estimated cost of over $360 million in
$350 million for the 27-million-tonne-a-year long-delayed commitments to cut carbon- Balochistan.
rail haulage capacity for locomotive and coal dioxide emissions. The decision was taken during a meeting of
wagon purchases, plus associated maintenance The Energy and Mineral Resources the joint working group on Gwadar.
facilities and equipment, port industry sources (ESDM) Ministry’s freshly appointed Officials told The News that the signing of
said. renewables director general, Dadan K$iana, power purchase agreement (PPA) for Gwadar
The Adani Group has awarded the civil said on November 16 that his office was coal power plant has become a deliverable
construction works contract worth $350 conducting an internal study to replace for upcoming joint cooperation committee
million for the Carmichael rail network Suralaya with a battery-equipped solar farm (JCC) that is expected to be held in December
— its largest construction contract for the (PLTS). through virtual meeting.
Carmichael project yet — to Queensland- Adding batteries to a solar farm makes The meeting was co-chaired by Planning
based BMD Group. it more expensive but enables it to provide Ministry Secretary Mathar Niaz Rana from
Carmichael rail network involves 24-hour electricity from the sun, which is the Pakistan side and National Development
construction of about 200 km of rail track otherwise an intermittent energy source. and Reform Commission Director General
that will use some 26,417 tonnes of steel and “[Suralaya] is already 35-years-old. We are Ying Xiong from the Chinese side.
319,000 sleepers. looking at whether it should be demolished The meeting reviewed the progress of
Analysts say that the renewed involvement and replaced with a new utility-scale projects in Gwadar. Both sides expressed
of APSEZ in the Carmichael project could solar farm, with batteries, so there’ll be no satisfaction over the progress made in port
raise significant environmental, social and intermittency issue,” he told lawmakers at a development and Chinese side appreciated
governance red-flags for global investors. public hearing in Jakarta. the support provided by Pakistan in the port
“The more Adani Ports increases its The 3,400-megawatt Suralaya plant operationalisation particularly enabling the
exposure to the Carmichael coal, rail and port comprises seven units that began operations Afghan transit trade through Gwadar.
business, the more climate risk is likely to be between 1984 and 1997. It was agreed that the step would
priced into Adani Ports’ bonds, particularly as The plant, owned by PT Indonesia Power, reduce the logistic cost and facilitate the
more globally significant financial institutions a subsidiary of state-owned electricity giant transshipment trade. The meeting was
(GSFI) are specifically excluding thermal coal PLN, is one of the biggest coal plants in informed that the Eastbay Expressway will be
exposures entirely,” the Institute for Energy Southeast Asia. completed in 2021 and all pending issues have
Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) Suralaya is also the biggest among been resolved on priority.
wrote in a report published earlier this month. 5,655MW worth of other coal plants over The expressway will connect the port with
20-years-old that the energy ministry is the 2nd phase of the free trade zone, which
planning to replace with green plants in will facilitate the business climate of the zone
chasing Indonesia’s renewable energy targets. and the port alike. Other projects discussed
COAL-FIRED GENERATION Under prevailing regulations, Indonesia, a included New Gwadar International Airport
signatory to the landmark Paris Agreement, and M-8 motorway for seamless connectivity
Indonesia mulls retiring targets to reach a 23 percent green energy of Gwadar with the rest of the country and
mix 2025, yet the country only reached 9.15
beyond.
giant Suralaya coal plant, percent last year. industry in Gwadar and will improve the
The project upon completion will energise
Many studies project that, at the current
replacing it with solar farm pace, Indonesia will miss the target. social and economic well-being of the local
community.
Meanwhile, 17.5 percent of Indonesia’s
The Indonesian government is considering to power capacity should have been from green Other projects in the social sector

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