Energy council says Cirebon coal plant operating normally amid outage concerns
Monday, June 15 2026 - 09:47 AM WIB
The National Energy Council (DEN) said it had inspected the 1,000-megawatt Cirebon Expansion coal-fired power plant in West Java amid concerns over electricity supply reliability following recent outages in several regions.
The visit on Saturday was aimed at assessing the reliability of power supply to the Java-Madura-Bali (Jamali) grid and identifying any issues that may require government attention, DEN member Muhammad Kholid Syeirazi said in a statement.
"We want to ensure that electricity supply remains secure and identify any issues that may require attention," Kholid said, as quoted by Bisnis.com.
The inspection came after electricity disruptions in several areas prompted speculation about possible constraints in fuel supply to power plants.
Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia last week dismissed suggestions that the outages were caused by coal shortages, saying domestic coal supplies for power generation remained adequate.
"Claims that coal is scarce are not true because our domestic supply allocation has already reached 170 million tons," Bahlil told reporters on Thursday.
Bahlil said the outages were instead caused by technical problems at several generating units and that state utility PLN was working to restore the affected systems.
Coal-fired power plants continue to dominate Indonesia's electricity system, accounting for more than 60% of installed generation capacity, according to DEN.
At the same time, Indonesia is seeking to increase the share of renewable energy in its power mix as part of its long-term energy transition strategy. Renewable energy currently accounts for about 15.6% of the country's power generation mix, Kholid said.
Under the government's National Energy Policy, Indonesia aims for renewable energy to contribute around 70% of electricity generation by 2060 as part of efforts to achieve net-zero emissions.
During the visit, DEN also reviewed measures being undertaken by the plant to improve energy efficiency, thermal efficiency and emissions mitigation as part of broader decarbonization efforts.
CEP President Director Hisahiro Takeuchi said the Cirebon Expansion plant was operating stably and continuing to support the reliability of the national electricity system.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak