RI to build 5,000 mine mouth power plants as China plans to ban import of low CV coal

By Adianto P. Simamora

Government has unveiled a plan to build 5,000 mine mouth power plants in order to absorb more low rank coal.

Head of Geological Agency R. Sukhyar said that the plan to build more mine mouth power plants was made in government discussion on Tuesday to respond to the proposal by China to embargo import of coal with calorific value of less than 4,500 kcal/kg.

"We held discussion on China's plan to ban the low rank. The decision is Indonesia must boost the use of low rank coal," he said in the conference organized by Indonesian Mining Institute. He did not elaborate on who attended the meeting.

Indonesia exports about 100 million tons of coal to China annually.

The unconfirmed report says that the China's National Energy Administration plans to ban import of thermal coal with CV of less than 4,500 kcal/kg, ash content of more than 25 percent and a sulphur content of more than 1 percent.

Editing by David Mustakim