Development Of PLN EBT Grows Positively In 2023

JAKARTA - PT PLN (Persero) has succeeded in accelerating the energy transition in the country through the development of New and Renewable Energy (EBT) with a positive trend record. This achievement is supported by the best financial performance in history in 2023.

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo said that PLN is now not only focused on providing electricity, but also on a sustainable environment. Various efforts have been made to encourage the energy transition in Indonesia, starting from increasing the capacity of EBT generators, encouraging the implementation of co-firing, to providing clean electricity needs through the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) service.

"Bumi is heating up, our job is how to ensure future generations' lives are better than today. Through the energy transition, we continue to ensure that the energy we use is not only reliable but also environmentally friendly," said Darmawan.

It is noted that the realization of the installed capacity of EBT plants in Indonesia in 2023 reached 8,786 megawatts (MW), which grew by 261 MW compared to 2022 by 8,525 MW. Hydro Power Plants contributed the largest portion with a composition of 5,777 MW, Geothermal Power Plants of 2,519 MW, and the rest came from Surya, Angin, and Biomass.

Darmawan continued, in the PLN energy transition process there are technical, strategic, operational, and funding challenges. PLN has mapped each of these challenges so that in this way, every challenge can be overcome, can be mitigated, and can be managed so that we can continue to advance and achieve energy transition missions.

In the midst of efforts to accelerate and answer the energy transition challenges that are future investments, PLN is prioritizing the corporate financial sustainability aspect. This is evidenced by the achievement of the company's cash balance in 2023 which has increased sharply to IDR 55.92 trillion and a decrease in long-term debt of IDR 4.24 trillion and short-term debt of IDR 8.53 trillion supported by various initiatives in the form of Productive Debt Management, liquidity control, to centralization and digitalization of payments.

PLN continues to strive to deliver electricity that is not only reliable, but also sustainable. In the midst of energy transition efforts, PLN continues to develop new and renewable energy-based generators by implementing prudent and solid financial initiatives," Darmawan explained.

Meanwhile, PLN also massively encourages the implementation of PLTU's biomass or co-firing as a coal substitution. By the end of 2023, the biomass program has been implemented in PLN's 43 Steam Power Plants (PLTU) by utilizing more than 990 thousand tons of co-firing or an increase of 69% compared to 2022 which is only 586 thousand in 36 PLTUs.

Through the use of co-firing, PLN can produce electricity of more than 1 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2023, an increase of almost 2 times from the previous year of 599 thousand MWh.

"Co-firing technology is a breakthrough in the energy transition in the country. Because, with this technology, many benefits are obtained, apart from reducing emissions, it will also reduce the use of fossil energy. More than that, co-firing also encourages the people's economy through the community's direct involvement in biomass development," said Darmawan.

In the future, this program will continue to be carried out massively in which by 2025, the implementation of cofiring is targeted to be carried out at 52 PLTUs.

PLN's commitment to encouraging the energy transition has proven to have received support from the public through its high interest in the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) service which is an international recognition of the use of clean electricity for customers.

The number of REC transactions in 2023 managed to reach 3,378 transactions, an increase of 69.67 percent higher than in 2022 which amounted to 1,991 transactions. The total electricity used by the community reached 3.54 million MWh, a double increase from the previous year of 1.76 million MWh.

The increase in REC users also boosted the company's revenue from REC by Rp61 billion to Rp124 billion.

"In encouraging the energy transition in Indonesia, PLN cannot deal with it in an atmosphere of loneliness, it is necessary to collaborate from all parties. Therefore, PLN will continue to optimize every potential that exists to continue to provide clean energy for the community," concluded Darmawan.