Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 38 2022

AsiaElec COAL AsiaElec

Indonesia backtracks on

closure of coal plants

INDONESIA INDONESIA is showing an ever increasing of official policy announced at Glasgow’s COP26,
reluctance to close down its aging coal-fired in 2021, that spotlighted an overall 29% cut in
(thermal) power plants (TPPs) in line with GHG emissions by Jakarta by 2030.
assurances made last year towards the nation Speaking up against the presidential decree,
one day achieving net-zero status. the energy and campaign manager of the Walhi
And to add insult to environmental injury, environmental group in eastern Indonesia said
authorities in the capital Jakarta are even giving there were now “too many exceptions made by
the green light on a number of development pro- the president” and his earlier promises of remov-
jects at new coal facilities, albeit in doing so, they ing TPPs in favour of renewable energy sources.
are promising to shut them down by 2060. “Coal-fired plants are banned, but the fact
Indonesia still draws the bulk of its energy that there are various exceptions indicates that
needs from coal, with an estimated 65% of the the efforts to change the direction in terms of
total coming from TPPs. providing electricity are still half-hearted,” Rere
However, despite initial enthusiasm for cen- Jamboree Christanto said, adding that “in fact,
tral government announcements of a move the longer dependence on fossil energy lasts, the
towards renewables dependency, a missive more burden will be placed on state finances.”
issued by the office of President Joko Widodo Speaking on the same issue, State-owned
last week now permits coal-powered steam facil- Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir highlighted
ities “within an industrial area oriented toward the $600bn that Indonesia is using to move away
boosting the value of natural resources.” from 15 GW of its current coal capacity genera-
More vague wording was added within the tion, in the same process putting in place renew-
same missive stating that coal-powered pro- able capacity of a comparable level.
jects contributing in some way to the national It is widely conceded, though, even within the
economy by way of job creation would also be national government, that the largest economy
permitted. in the region is struggling to attract backers to
There has already been speculation as to this end, in particular in the form of renewable
whether or not this is a direct response to energy developers.
regional analysts claiming that a cut of 20% or As part of his own efforts to take the sting
more in coal use over the next decade would hurt out of his government’s decision to delay the
both nationwide electricity supply as well as the wind-down of coal use, President Widodo also
Indonesian economy. ordered government agencies to replace existing
One economist at Bandung’s Padjadjaran motor fleets with electric vehicles by the end of
University, Yayan Satyaki, said: “Coal can be the decade.
reduced in the range of 20% to 30% at most by It is thought this will affect over 130,000 offi-
2035, because a reduction of above 20% could cial vehicles.
cause an energy supply gap,” “To realise the energy transition, the govern-
As such, construction of TPPs is now being ment begins by transitioning from conventional
permitted as long as companies behind the vehicles to electric vehicles,” the president’s
facilities agree to a 35% drop in greenhouse gas Chief of Staff, Moeldoko, said of the presidential
(GHG) emissions by the end of the first 10 years decree.
of operations. “While other countries are competing to save
An alternative is for operators across Indone- the world from the threat of climate change, we
sia, the world’s eighth-worst polluting nation, is should not only be spectators. We must be the
to close the facilities by 2050. main actors,” he added.™
No announcements, official or otherwise,
have been made regarding a possible adjustment

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 21•September•2022