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Govt shuts down Suralaya power plant in bid to reduce air pollution
The Suralaya power plant in Cilegon, Banten, is one of the largest coal-fired power plants in Southeast Asia with a total installed capacity of 3,400 megawatts and 35,000 tonnes of estimated daily coal consumption.
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Fishermen sail past on Sept. 22, 2021, as smoke rises from chimneys of the Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Cilegon, Banten. (AFP/Ronald Siagian)
T
he government has shut down several units of the Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Cilegon, Banten, amid increasing public outcry over worsening air quality in the Greater Jakarta area.
Authorities have been scrambling to reduce pollution in the capital, which has given President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo a cough, as Jakarta hosts the 43rd ASEAN Summit from Tuesday to Thursday.
To reduce the air pollution, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir told the House of Representatives Commission VI which oversees industrial affairs and SOEs about the government’s decision to shut down four of seven units of the Suralaya coal-fired power plant.
The Suralaya plant is owned by PT Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of state-owned electricity company PLN, and is one of the largest coal-fired power plants in Southeast Asia with a total installed capacity of 3,400 megawatts (MW).
Using around 35,000 tonnes of coal per day, the power plant meets 18 percent of the electricity demand of Java and Bali. The power plant has also been blamed as the largest source of pollution in Jakarta, with experts saying that wind carries the fumes from Suralaya into the capital.
Erick, however, claimed the government’s data showed no reduction in air pollution in Jakarta following the shutdown.
Data from Swiss air quality technology company IQAir showed that the air quality in Jakarta has been categorized as “unhealthy” throughout the past week, with the concentration of fine PM2.5 airborne pollutants reaching 77.7 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3), more than four times the 15 μg/m3 considered safe by the World Health Organization.
