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PLN pledges carbon neutrality by 2050
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PLN president director Zulkifli Zaini speaks in front of House of Representatives (DPR) Commission VII, which oversees energy, in Jakarta on Wednesday (17/6). The commission was grilling PLN about recent spikes in household power bills. (PLN/PLN)
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tate-owned electricity monopolist PLN has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050 with a plan to phase out fossil fuel-fired power plants and use more renewable energy in its networks.
PLN president director Zulkifli Zaini said the company was planning to develop new solar and wind power plants, mix biomass with coal – so-called co-firing – in existing coal plants and convert diesel-fired power plants to renewable energy-based power plants.
“After we finish developing the 35,000 megawatts [of additional power generating capacity], we will fulfil Indonesia’s electricity needs using only renewable energy,” Zulkifli said in an online briefing on Friday.
Since 2015, PLN has been building new power plants to produce a combined 35,000 MW, 60 percent of which are coal-fired. The government-mandated project has strained the company’s finances and compounded its environmental problems.
Read also: Cash-strapped PLN steers away from green energy
Zulkifli added that PLN’s electricity production capacity was expected to reach 1,100 terawatt-hours in 2050, assuming a 4.7 percent annual growth from the current supply of between 250 TWh and 300 TWh. The company seeks to use renewables to raise the output.
However, he did not mention the company’s carbon dioxide emission volume that would be the benchmark to measure carbon neutrality.
