Revealed! RI's Reasons Difficult To Retire Early Coal PLTU

Head of the Center for Climate and Multilateral Change Financing Policy at the Ministry of Finance Boby Wahyu Hernawan (second from the left). (Photo: Aris Nurjani / VOI)

BOGOR - Head of the Center for Climate Change Financing Policy and Multilateral Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance Boby Wahyu Hernawan said the government had not been able to replace coal Steam Power Plants (PLTU) to be diverted to more environmentally friendly energy sources.

According to Boby, until now Indonesia still uses around 60 percent of coal energy sources to become the main national energy source.

In addition, the budget for the use of new stones is cheaper than others.

"One of Indonesia's energy sources is of course the coal (coal) earlier. That cannot be denied and this our coal is approximately 60 percent of our national energy source, and currently Indonesia has an abundance of natural resources, then the price is quite efficient, quite cheap," he said in media gathering, Wednesday, May 29.

In addition, Boby said, coal commodities in the country are driving economic growth.

So that it becomes one of the energy sources that cannot be replaced.

"Like it or not? But this is Indonesia's economic growth, one of which is from a fairly cheap energy source," he said.

Boby said that in supporting Indonesia Gold 2045, coal energy is also one of the cheap energy supporters, provided that it continues to predict new and renewable energy (EBT) in the future.

"Indonesia wants to become a developed country in 2045 or maybe God willing, it will be faster. One of them is that we must maintain economic growth by having a fairly cheap energy source from the coal. But we remain committed to the climate change agenda," he explained.

According to Boby, the energy transition is not immediately 100 percent, but starting with a pilot project, one of which is trilemma energy, which is a framework for adopting energy policies by considering energy resilience, environmental sustainability, affordable energy.

"Our national energy if we suddenly shut down a lot, what is our security energy like? Then the energy of affordability, prices for the community, because this is also public goods, we have to maintain this, yes, affordability," he said.

The government, he said, opened an option to use the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) to fund the acceleration of the energy transition in the electricity sector.

This includes accelerating the end of the coal PLTU operation time.

The policy was signed on October 4, 2023 by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati through Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) Number 103 of 2023 concerning Providing Fiscal Support Through Funding and Financing Frameworks in the Context of Accelerating Energy Transition in the Electricity Sector.

The regulation aims to realize the implementation of a just and affordable energy transition policy by the government in several ways.

These include providing fiscal support through a funding and financing framework in the context of accelerating the energy transition in the electricity sector or what is subsequently called the Energy Transition Platform.