PLTU Criteria That Will Be Closed By PLN To Replace New Renewable Energy

Illustration of the Coal PLTU (Photo: Doc. Antara)

YOGYAKARTA A number of coal-fired Steam Power Plants (PLTU) will be closed by the government.

This was done as a step by the government to implement new and renewable energy (EBT). In fact, currently there are PLTU criteria that will be closed by PLN.

The government previously also issued Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 112 of 2022 concerning the Acceleration of Renewable Energy Development for the Provision of Electricity. The Presidential Regulation will take effect from September 13, 2022.

With this Presidential Regulation, the Government will not build coal power plants in the future. Coal power plants may still operate in the next 10 years, but in 2050 the government will permanently close the plant.

PLN Executive Vice President Power Generation and New & Renewable Energy Herry Nugraha explained that there are four criteria in the PLTU that are the targets for closure, namely as follows.

The first criterion relates to the economic aspect in the sense that the PLTU is not feasible.

"First, if the PLTU may not be feasible or not too expensive or if the CCU and CCUS facilities are built if it is not possible to build it because it may be space and so on, then it will be prioritized for retirement," he said at the Indonesia Sustainable Energy Week (ISEW) 2022 event, quoted from CnbciIndonesia, Wednesday, October 26.

The PLTU on the island of Java will also be threatened with closure. Even the government will prioritize the power plant to be retired by taking into account the functions and reliability of the power plant itself.

"We also understand that the generator has a function of how good the function is to increase the capacity and function of reliability, so that is a consideration," he said.

Consider it like a PLTU that meets the electricity needs for large factories or areas such as DKI Jakarta will be temporarily excluded because electricity demand is still very high.

"If the PLTU is in Central Java and on the south side it is too far to supply it to Jakarta or Semarang, for example, it is the priority to retire," he explained.

The government will also shut down power generation companies based on technology. If PLTU uses old technology that is subcritical technology, it will be a priority to retire immediately.

The termination of the PLTU will also be carried out by the Government based on the reliability of supply from the power plant. The PLTU, which supplies 500 kV of extra-voltage transmission, will be a top priority to be immediately retired rather than a 150 kV transmission supply.

Although threatened with closure, there are a number of PLTUs that will be excluded. This was explained by the Special Staff of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Management Acceleration and Coal Irwandy Arif.

"There are also (PLTUs) that are excluded from being retired, namely PLTUs that were already in the RUPTL prior to the enactment of this Presidential Regulation, then PLTUs that have been integrated and will provide added value to natural resources," he said in his statement, Tuesday, September 20.

PLTU which has a plan to reduce C02 by 35 percent in the next 10 years will also be excluded so that it is not retired.

Those are some of the PLTU criteria that will be closed by the Government. To get other interesting information, visit VOI.ID through its website and social media.