It Takes Huge Costs To Retire The PLTU, PLN Jajaki Pendanaan From The International Financial Institution

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo. (Photo: Doc. PLN)

PT PLN (Persero) is exploring opportunities for cooperation with international financial institutions to support the termination of the operation of steam power plants (PLTU) to reach 6.7 gigawatts (GW) until 2040.

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo said to retire the PLTU, PLN could not run alone.

According to him, the early retirement mechanism for coal power plants will be implemented in stages both naturally and early retirement (early retirement) and replace them with new and renewable energy (EBT).

"We continue to process with global investment partners and institutions. We will not continue the outdated PLTU operation," he said in a statement to the media, Wednesday, October 19.

He added, of the total 6.7 GWs that will be nominated in 2040, they are divided into 3.2 GWs of generating plants that have stopped operating naturally, while 3.5 GWs use an early retirement scheme.

In addition to early retirement, PLN will reach NZE in 2060 by operating PLTU with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) of 19 GW.

Other initiatives such as biomass cofiring in several PLTUs will also be carried out to prevent future emissions

"We also approach using technology, for example through co-firing," he said.

Currently, PLN has co-firing biomass at 33 PLTUs, besides that, PLN is also conducting joint studies with Mitsubishi Power and IHI for co-firing media, and collaborating with ITB for co-firing Hydrogen in Pesanggaran, Bali.

Darmawan added that developing co-firing is not only talking about coal substitution, but about encouraging the people's economy.

The reason is, biomass used as co-firing uses resources originating from around the plant.

"If we talk about co-firing, we also talk about the economy to the community, adding value, and alleviating poverty," he concluded.

Previously, PLN had also collaborated with the Asia Development Bank (ADB) through the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) scheme. One of the energy transition projects undertaken by the Indonesian government with the ETM scheme is the early retirement of the PLTU.

To be able to retire PLTU, PLN certainly needs a lot of funds. Therefore, ETM is present as one of the financing strategies to retire PLTU earlier.

Through the active movements of PLN and ADB as well as the support of the Indonesian government, the issue of energy transition can be mushrooming in society.