IMA sees upbeat prospect for low rank coal
Tuesday, June 6 2017 - 11:23 AM WIB
The Indonesian Mining Association (IMA) predicted that the country?s ample resources of low rank coal would have positive outlook as new coal-fired power plants and future new projects at home are designed to consume low to medium rank coal.
?The demand for low and medium rank coal are growing since most, or 99 percent of the new coal-fired power plants are designed to use the low to medium rank coal,? IMA Chairman, Ido Hutabarat told Petromindo.com on Tuesday.
Data from Directorate of Mineral and Coal shows as of 2016, Indonesia has 14.2 billion tons of low rank coal reserves. The government has long been struggling to exploit the low rank coal, including through the introduction of upgrading technology but remain ineffective.
Ido said that currently only few of the power plants that are still consuming high rank coal. ?Some of the existing power plants have modified their boilers to utilize the lower calorific value of coal,? he said.
Head of Coal Division at state-owned electricity firm PLN, Harlen acknowledged earlier that most of new coal-fired power plant projects will be designed to use low rank coal in line with the availability of coal reserves in the country.
According to Harlen, medium rank coal with calorific value of 4,500-5,000 kcal/kg will still account for more than half of this year?s projected coal supply for power plants operated by state-owned electricity firm PT PLN and independent power producers (IPPs).
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak