Government will still prioritize coal-fired power plants

Petromindo|Khalsa

The government will still prioritize the development of coal-fired power plants (PLTUs) over the next decade as PLTUs are considered as the cheapest source of electricity.

Director General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Andy Noorsaman Sommeng said on Monday that the upcoming 2018-2027 electricity procurement business plan (or RUPTL) of state-owned electricity firm PT PLN will still be dominated by PLTUs.

Average electricity tariff from PLTUs currently stand at around 0.6 US cent per kWh, the lowest compared to other technologies including gas-fired.

He explained that as PLN is under pressure to cut down electricity supply cost in a bid to lower tariff for consumers, it will continue to prioritize power procurement from PLTUs.

Andy added that putting PLTU development first is also in line with PLN?s project management as it focuses on developing plants that take longer time to complete rather than plants that are quicker to complete. He pointed out that it would take 4-5 years to complete a PLTU project, compared to nine months for gas-fired or combined-cycle power plant.

Andy?s remarks come following growing protest from environmental groups over PLTUs, and recent demand from Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan to stop the development of new PLTUs in Java as the island does not have coal reserves and that there are already too many PLTUs there. He suggested that power plants in Java should be based on local energy resources potential such as or renewables.

But developing gas-fired power plants in Java is not easy given the limited infrastructure facilities and uncertainty over gas supply from the upstream sector. In comparison, the country, a major coal exporters, holds large coal reserves. (*)