ICMA slashes down coal projection in 35GW power project

By Brigida Ernestina Elu Wea

The Indonesia Coal Mining Association (ICMA) projected coal demand from new power plants to be completed in 2019 at 75-100 million tons per year, lower than initial projection.

Chairman of ICMA Pandu Sjharir told Petromindo.com on Tuesday that the lower estimate comes as power plants to be completed in 2019 under the government?s 35,000 MW power plant projects are likely to be only around 25,000 MW.

ICMA previously projected that the additional coal demand from the 35 GW program to reach 100-150 million tons per year, assuming that the entire planned capacity can be completed in 2019.

Pandu said that the country?s coal sector has the capacity to supply the coal requirement from the power plants as annual output can reach around 380 million tons.

The government of President Joko Widodo has launched a five-year program to develop a total of 35,000 MW power plants, about 60 percent of which to be coal-fired, until 2019. But due to various obstacles, progress has been very slow, prompting interim Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Luhut Panjaitan to slash down the 2019 target to 25,000 MW.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak