Remove 13.3 GW Coal PLTU Development Plan, President Director Of PLN: Not Enough

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo. (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - PT PLN (Persero) is aggressively seeking an energy transition to Net Zero Emission (NZE) in 2060.

One of the steps taken by PLN is to abolish the planned construction of 13.3 gigawatts (GW) of steam power plants (PLTU) which were previously included in the Electric Power Supply Business Plan (RUPTL).

PLN replaces the 800 MW coal PLTU with a gas plant to cancel the electricity purchase agreement (PPA) for the coal PLTU of 1.3 GW.

"Is that enough? It's not enough. Other 1.1 GW of coal is not only eliminated but also replaced by renewable energy which can eliminate around 200 million CO2 within 25 years," said PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo quoted Friday, October 13.

In addition, PLN is also intensifying the development of EBT in Indonesia by building the greenest electricity plan in history, namely the addition of 52 percent of power plants from EBT.

It is not enough, PLN will also accelerate the addition of renewable energy plants aggressively up to 75 percent based on water, wind, sun, geothermal and waves.

Darmawan continued, this effort was also coupled with PLN's innovation to build a Green Transmission Line, which is a major transmission line in overcoming the missmatch between the location of the EBT epicenter which is far from the economic and industrial centers located on the island of Java.

"We need to build a large-scale environmentally friendly transmission line. If we build it, then we can add 32 GWs of renewable energy based on hydropower and geothermal for the next 15 years," said Darmawan.

In addition, to ensure the supply of EBT remains stable in the midst of changing Indonesian weather, PLN will also build a smart grid to anticipate the challenges of previous system intermittents that are unable to accommodate large-scale solar and wind plants.

Darmawan added that the company is making the energy transition challenge an opportunity to transform into a company with a dynamical and future perspective.

Thus, every business process, way of working and way of making decisions is more accountable, credible, concise, consolidated and integrated.

"This energy transition has the opportunity for Indonesia to accelerate growth, create more jobs, alleviate poverty, build new national capacities. For PLN, this is our opportunity to transform from a static company into a dynamic and future-minded company. We will turn these challenges into great opportunities," said Darmawan.

However, Darmawan emphasized that the energy transition is not only the PLN or Indonesia agenda, but a global challenge.

So, Darmawan admitted, the need for collaboration and global efforts in finding solutions together.

"So, this is not a local problem, this is what we call global climate change. The solution must be based on collaboration, policy collaboration, technology, innovation, investment. In addition, collaboration in all aspects, both local, regional, and international is always open," said Darmawan.