Director General Of EBTKE Ensures That The Carbon Tax Takes Effect July 2022

Location of the Bengkulu Steam Power Plant (PLTU) with a power of 2x100 megawatts. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Dadan Kusdiana, has confirmed that the implementation of the carbon tax will begin in July.

According to Dadan, the application of the tax will encourage PLTU managers to further increase the utilization of other energies.

However, Dadan asserted, the carbon tax program will only be a tax payment.

With the implementation of this carbon tax, he said, it is hoped that it will reduce greenhouse gas (ERK) emissions in support of the government's program towards net zero emissions (NZE) by 2060.

"We will apply a carbon tax on July 1, 2022 so that PLTU can use other energy. We don't expect this program to be just a tax payment," he said when opening the Launching of The 11th Indonesia EBTKE ConEx 2022, Thursday, June 2.

On the other hand, continued Dadan, neighboring countries such as Singapore are currently preparing to increase their carbon tax in order to increase state revenues.

Dadan said he didn't want this to happen in Indonesia. He hopes that by imposing a carbon tax, it will not only increase state revenues but also reduce carbon emissions.

Previously, the government stated that the implementation of the carbon tax, which was originally from April 1, 2022, had been postponed to July 2022 because the government was still coordinating to synchronize the roadmap so that its implementation would run.

The government explained that there are differences in each country, including related to prices, so that it has the potential to cause leakage so that a road map for the imposition of a carbon tax must be prepared.

Previously, the Director General of Electricity, Rida Mulyana, said that the government had compiled the principles of implementing carbon neutrality and an energy transition roadmap, one of which was the implementation of a carbon tax and carbon trading with a cap and trade and tax scheme.

The implementation of the cap and trade and tax scheme, continued Rida, is specifically applied to Coal Steam Power Plants (PLTU) with a capacity of 25 Mega Watt (MW) to 100 MW and is planned to be implemented effectively in 2023.

However, in detail, the government divides the determination of the GHG Emission Upper Limit (BAE) into three classifications, namely non-mine-mouth PLTU with a capacity above 400 MW, non-mine-mouth PLTU with a capacity of 100-400 MW, and mine-mouth PLTU with a capacity above 100. MW.

The exception was made, said Rida, because it took into account the factors of providing electricity to the community.

Because it has a small capacity, functionally the PLTU with a capacity of 25-100 MW is the backbone of electricity supply outside Java.

"Don't let the electricity supply service be reduced, because the high carbon is then closed and it's pitch black, it's not good for us. If it's closed for emission reasons, while there is no replacement, don't let it be like that," said Rida.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is currently preparing a regulation in the form of a Draft Regulation of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources regarding the implementation of the carbon economic value (NEK) of power plants.

The proposed mechanism is the Emissions Technical Approval Letter (PTE) for coal-fired power plants issued by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources through the Directorate General of Electricity.