Indonesia’s PLN lays out CO2 emissions reduction plans

Market: Coal
11/07/23

Indonesian state-owned utility PLN has planned three approaches to reduce its carbon emissions — decarbonisation of fossil fuel plants, installation of renewable energy infrastructure and a green ecosystem — to help the country meet its 2050 net zero goal.

PLN has implemented several measures based on these three approaches, the company said following a meeting with the Indonesian House of Representatives Committee. This has led to a 50mn t decrease in emissions to 284mn t in 2022, from 334mn t under a business-as-usual scenario, PLN said.

PLN said it has significantly reduced the development of new coal-fired power plants. A total of 13.3GW of coal-fired power projects in Indonesia's 2019-2028 Medium Term Business Plan (RUPTL) have been cancelled since it was updated to the 2021-2030 RUPTL, with plans to remove more plants depending on current and future electricity needs and supply priorities, the company said.

PLN has also cancelled 1.3GW of power purchase agreements (PPA) under the latest RUPTL. This has been replaced with 1.1GW of renewable energy, while another 800MW of coal-fired power has been replaced with natural gas capacity, the company said.

PLN added that the cancellation of power projects and PPAs will help avoid an increase in emissions, but this does not address emissions from existing power plants. To address this issue, PLN will continue to expand its co-firing projects for existing coal-fired power plants.

Indonesia has 37 coal-fired power plants in its biomass co-firing programme, which resulted in a 1.2mn t decrease in CO2 emissions in 2022 compared with 2021, but PLN said it aims to expand the number of such plants to 52 by 2025. PLN is also waiting for the full rollout of Indonesia's carbon trading programme. This is currently in a pilot phase, with 26 of PLN's plants voluntarily participating.

PLN will also prioritise the completion of renewable energy projects, it said. The 2021-2030 RUPTL has 20.9GW of renewable power in the pipeline, accounting for 52pc of the country's total additional power capacity. PLN has 9.1GW while the remaining 11.8GW will come from independent power producers. Around 13GW is already in various implementation stages and 7.9GW in the planning stage, PLN said.

Plans for a green ecosystem, which is under development, include smart metering, solar rooftop installations and issuance of green certificates, the company said. But timelines for these measures are not yet clear.

By Antonio delos Reyes

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