Power plants need 90m tons of coal by 2015

By Hiski Darmayana

Indonesia?s power plants would need some 90 million tons of coal per year starting 2015, according to state utility company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

?Indonesia?s economy continues to grow, maybe around 6-7 percent by then, which requires more than 9 percent growth in power sector. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we can ensure the coal supply sustainability,? Director of Strategic Procurement at PLN Bagiyo Riawan said in Denpasar, Bali.

Bagiyo added that PLN therefore expects the smooth implementation of the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) mechanism, in addition to the government-initiated domestic coal price benchmark (HPB).

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources recently said the DMO realization in 2011 reached 66.31 million tons and expects the figure to hit 82.07 million tons this year, or about 25 percent from the total coal production target for 2012.

PLN took up about 57.2 million tons from total DMO supply in 2011, while private power plants (IPPs) consumed 10.76 million tons.

Editing by Dadan Wijaksana