PLN?s coal consumption up

State-owned electricity firm PLN has continued to increase coal consumption to fuel its power plants. Head of Coal Division at PLN, Helmi Najamuddin was quoted Monday by Koran Tempo as saying that coal consumption in the January-May 2014 period reached 17.4 million tons, up by 12 percent compared to the same period of last year.

?The coal consumption increases because of the entry of a number of coal-fired power plants such as the Tanjung Anwar-anwar unit 2, Pelabuhan Ratu unit 2, Teluk Sirih and Sanggau,? Helmi said.

PLN?s coal consumption this year is expected to reach 55.4 million tons, lower than the 57.4 million tons coal allocated by the government for PLN under the domestic market obligation (DMO) policy.

Helmi said that PLN?s coal consumption next year is projected to increase to 56.3 million tons. (*)