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Energy watchdogs call for less coal, more renewables in PLN long-term power plan
Indonesia aims to make renewables contribute 23 percent of power production by 2025, yet regulatory headwinds are setting the country back from achieving its goal
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The 600 kWp solar power plant on Gili Trawangan island in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara on Feb. 22, 2019 . (PLN/PLN)
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nergy watchdogs have called on state-owned electricity company PLN to slash coal consumption and boost renewables usage in the company’s upcoming 2020-2029 electricity procurement plan (RUPTL).
The experts urged Indonesia’s top electricity company to further cut back on coal-fired power plants, particularly those whose construction has been stalled due to COVID-19 pandemic. They urged PLN to focus on developing green energy plants instead.
“Developing coal plants that have a 40-year lifespan will lock out opportunities for renewables to develop in Indonesia,” said energy and climate change researcher Adila Isfandiari of environmental advocacy group Greenpeace Indonesia.
Adila is among many energy observers, including those from Global Energy Monitor (GEM), the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) and the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) that see PLN’s upcoming procurement plan as an opportunity to accelerate renewables usage in Southeast Asia’s top coal consuming country.
Indonesia aims to make renewables contribute 23 percent of power production by 2025, yet regulatory headwinds are setting the country back from achieving its goal. Existing regulations stipulate that Indonesia should have reached a 17.5 percent renewable power mix by 2019, yet the country only hit 12.36 percent that year.
“Overdoing the development of thermal plants has meant that renewables have had little room to grow,” said IESR executive director Fabby Tumiwa, whose organization has long been advocating – albeit unsuccessfully until now – for a moratorium on new coal plants starting 2020.
PLN’s upcoming procurement plan is a revision of the preceding 2019-2028 RUPTL. The revision factors in higher power demand in Kalimantan, which is set to host Indonesia’s new capital, and lower power consumption growth nationwide due to lower-than-expected economic growth.
