ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – New renewable energy is currently becoming a favorite in Indonesia as an energy raw material that is environmentally friendly and has low emissions. The government is also targeting a Net Zero Emission (NZE) target in 2060 or sooner, which will use renewable energy as the backbone of national energy security.
Despite having these big ambitions, the government does not immediately abandon fossil-based energy, one of which is coal.
Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia, Dadan Kusdiana, revealed that Indonesia is one of the countries with large coal-based power plants. So, setting the NZE target does not mean that coal will be eliminated as one of the main sources of national electricity generation in the near future.
At least, it will take until 2057 according to the road map towards NZE initiated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, while in parallel, the government is strengthening the basis for utilizing renewable energy to support national energy. Because the government is also obliged to ensure the availability of energy to the community.
“Steam Power Plant contracts range from 25 to 30 years, so from the simulations we have carried out at NZE, our peak use of coal will be between 2030 and 2035, after that it will slope in line with the Steam Power Plant whose contract period has finished,” he said in Jakarta, Wednesday, November 29 2023.
To supply energy needs to the community when coal use begins to decline, Dadan said that the government will develop and provide cleaner energy from renewable energy. Therefore, coal that is not used as raw material for power plants can be used in a processed and greener form through the downstream process.
“We have to move towards green products, we have to create a green industry here, because later we will see from the process side how to produce this product,” he said.
Dadan explained that coal products can be converted into Dimethyl Ether (DME) through a gasification process, which can be used as a substitute for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), with existing consumers.
“Before it becomes DME, it can also become methanol. This methanol is widely used in industries, we can use methanol but with the condition that the process must be clean without any emissions, it becomes a green product,” he added.
With green products, Dadan said it would be easy to export abroad, because other countries, especially Europe, would look at the process side of how to produce an item. This makes green industry and green products competitive commodities in the international market.
“For example, exports to Europe will take effect in 2026, if I’m not mistaken, then they will ask what the production method is like, to find out how much carbon it has, so if it is high, if it exceeds the limit, they will apply a carbon tax to the product,” he concluded.
Indonesian Coal Production Reaches 686 Million Tons
Dadan also revealed that the performance of the mining subsector, especially coal commodity production, was positive this year.
“The performance of the mineral and coal sector is very good and positive for 2023,” he said.
In 2023, the government is aiming for coal production to reach 694.5 million tonnes, this target has increased compared to the coal production target in 2022 of 663 million tonnes.
Even though there has been an increase in the target from last year, Dadan is optimistic that this will be achieved because there is still one month left until the end of 2023. Apart from that, referring to last year’s production, the realization of Indonesia’s coal production was able to exceed the target by reaching 687 million tons, or around 104% of the coal production target.
Meanwhile, the realization of coal production this year, said Dadan, has reached 686 million tons, or reached 98% of the target that had been set.
“We can take real-time data from the position on November 27 2023, our coal production has reached 686 million tons, that is close to the target,” explained Dadan.
From the realization of coal production, he ensured that domestic needs were well met with the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO), with a realization of 71 million tons of coal. Meanwhile, the realization of coal exports was at 348 million tons, and the realization of domestic coal needs reached 292 million tons. (AT Network)
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