PLN plans to keep increasing utilization of renewable energy
Darajat Unit I owned by Indonesia Power (a PLN subsidiary) with steam supplied by Chevron (source: wienblog-growingtree/ blogspot)
Alexander Richter
22 Jan 2016
PLN will have to increase its share of renewable energy power generation in order to comply with set policies by the government of Indonesia.
The Jakarta Post reports today, that state-owned electricity company PLN is planning to keep increasing the utilization of new renewable energy to generate power despite the challenges encountered so far.
To comply with the policy of the government of Indonesia, the use of new-renewable energy sources is necessary for PLN and is “not about price” [but about] the environment.”
In 2015, around 55.7 percent of electricity generation by PLN was fueled by coal, 25.3 percent by gas, 8.2 percent by diesel fuel, 5.9 percent by hydropower plants and around 4 percent by geothermal energy.
The use of coal and gas for power generation in 2015 was higher than a year earlier. Diesel fuel usage was lower, as was the use of hydropower plants, while the use of geothermal energy was relatively stable.
“The trend for diesel fuel usage will continue declining and it will be zero under our target by 2025. The portion of gas utilization also increased slightly. Coal is now cheaper and there are a lot of resources available,” company director Nicke Widyawati said.
The country is struggling to meet its target of 23 percent renewable energy utilization. PLN’s target is slightly higher at 25 percent, according to Nicke.
“It’s also an issue for us because we have to increase the portion of renewable energy at the same time as our subsidies [from the government] are falling,” Nicke said.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry earlier said that it planned to establish another entity like PLN to handle renewable energy.
Under the plan, the new entity will be a buffer in the purchasing of electricity from independent power producers, selling the power to PLN under a certain price that will not burden the state-owned firm.
Source: The Jakarta Post
