Indonesia advances coal-fired power phase-out to 2040

Market: Coal
20/11/24

Indonesia plans to retire all coal-fired power plants within the next 15 years, advancing an earlier target of 2056, President Prabowo Subianto said today.

This follows from Subianto's address at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 19 November, where he emphasised the importance of global collaboration to achieve green energy transition. He also claimed Indonesia is optimistic it can reach net zero emissions before 2050, a decade ahead of its previous commitment.

"We plan to build more than 75GW of renewable energy in the next 15 years [to replace coal-fired power]," Subianto added.

His claims come at a time when Indonesia's deputy minister of energy and mineral resources (ESDM) Yuliot Tanjung admitted in a speech today that the country's reliance on coal for electricity is still high.

Tanjung said the country has huge potential for solar and hydropower generation, owing to its geographical location, but they require technological developments and large investment.

Indonesia has the world's fifth-largest operating coal-fired power capacity of 52.31GW, with about 9.81GW more under construction, according to Global Energy Monitor data. Only about 15pc of Indonesia's total installed generation capacity of more than 90GW is currently powered by renewables.

New coal-fired projects have continued to be proposed this year, despite the Indonesian government's previous commitment in 2021 to stop building new coal-fired plants after 2023.

In addition to power generation, coal is also heavily utilised in Indonesian industry, which contributed to domestic coal production reaching a record 720mn t so far this year. Indonesia could also be on track for a new output record this year, with ESDM expecting 2024 output to surpass 800mn t, up from 775mn t in 2023, if the current output trend continues for the rest of this year.

Indonesia and the Philippines are the two most coal-reliant countries in southeast Asia, according to energy think-tank Ember.

By Ashima Sharma

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