JAKARTA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia is currently pushing for coal phase-down, a strategy of gradually reducing the use of coal, as an effort to boost decarbonization.
The country's state-owned electricity company PT PLN said on Monday that under the coal phase-down scheme, Indonesia would still build power plants until 2040, with a total capacity of around 88.4 gigawatts, but 75 percent of them would be renewable energy-based plants and 25 percent would be gas-based plants.
"We will not simply close down the coal-fired power plants, but rather gradually phase down the use of coal and replace them with new and renewable energy. This is one of our efforts to reduce emissions in the electricity sector to reach the zero emission target in 2060," Risk Management Director of PT PLN Suroso Isnandar said.
He said that the coal phase-down approach was chosen because Indonesia's economic conditions continue to grow, so the country needed to ensure the availability of electrical energy when demand surged. He said the approach had been implemented to four power plants in Cilegon, Banten province.
"Ahead, 75 percent of our power plants will be based on renewable energy," Isnandar said. ■