Ministry identifies 15 coal power plants to replace Cirebon-1 in early retirement plan

By Calvin Purba

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has identified 15 high-emission coal-fired power plants (PLTUs) that could be selected to replace the Cirebon-1 coal plant for early retirement.

According to Yuliot Tanjung, Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, the early retirement plan still requires agreement among the government stakeholders.

“The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has identified 15 coal-fired power plants with relatively high emission contributions. The mechanism will still need to be agreed upon among the government,” Yuliot said on the sidelines of the Indonesia Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap 2026: Partnership, Financing, and Technology event on Tuesday (Feb. 3).

He added that replacement power plants with equivalent capacity are required to offset the reduction in electricity supply resulting from early retirement.

“When implementing early retirement, we must also consider the limits—at the time of retirement, there must already be replacement power plants with the same capacity,” Yuliot said. “So it is not only about early retirement, but also about ensuring replacement capacity for the retired plants.”

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Previously, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto confirmed that the government has officially canceled the early retirement of the 660 MW Cirebon-1 coal-fired power plant under the Asian Development Bank’s Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Instead, the government will nominate another, older coal-fired power plant in Java to replace Cirebon-1 in the ETM pipeline.

Airlangga said the decision was based on technical considerations, noting that Cirebon-1 still has a long remaining operational life and already uses supercritical technology, which is considered more efficient and cleaner than older subcritical units.

“Cirebon has a long remaining lifespan and already uses supercritical technology. We are therefore looking for an alternative plant that is older and has a greater environmental impact—one that truly needs to be retired,” Airlangga said on Dec. 5, 2025. He added that state-owned utility PLN is currently preparing a list of candidate plants.

He also confirmed that the ETM funding initially allocated for Cirebon-1 will be redirected to the replacement power plant.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak