To phase out all coal and other fossil-fueled power plants in the next 15 years, President Prabowo Subianto would need to introduce massive reforms to the existing energy and climate policies, analysts have said, pointing out that the president could not rely on existing systems to realize his ambitious promise. The promise, which Prabowo conveyed during the group of twenty (G20) meetings in Brazil on Nov. 19, also comes with a commitment to introduce 75 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy into the electricity grid within the same period.The IESR estimates that retiring the country’s coal plants early would cost the country US$4.6 billion until 2030, which includes assets costs, as well as a drop in state revenue. It would also require the transitioning of affected workers. The cost is estimated to increase to US$27.5 billion until 2050, as the government accelerates the plan over the coming decades. Moreover, the IESR estimates that the government would need around US$1.2 trillion of investment so that the country could meet all of its electricity needs from clean energy, including energy storage and transmission networks to address intermittency risks, as well as remote characteristics of renewable sources.Prabowo’s commitment comes in spite of the fact that Indonesia has continued to miss its renewable investment targets over the past few years. Last year, it only booked $1.5 billion worth of renewable energy investment. Businesses have blamed a lack of government action to resolve structural and financial barriers in the sector. The government has been moving to retire its first coal plant Cirebon-1 since last year with the Asian Development Bank aiming for a transaction close within the year, but such an agreement has yet to be announced. In November last year, the government had planned to focus more on controlling emissions from coal plants, which will remain in use until the end of their operational lifespans, a plan which it referred to as “coal-phase down” rather than coal-phase out.Meanwhile, Association of Indonesian Mineral and Coal Energy Suppliers (Aspebindo) chairman Anggawira expected plans to retire all coal and other fossil fueled power plants to “significantly impact” coal miners, especially those relying on the domestic market. The coal industry is hoping that the government will accelerate coal downstreaming programs, including coal gasification and coal-to-dimethyl ether (DME) projects, which they deem could also play a major role in energy transition. The Indonesia Mining Association (IMA), previously estimated that Southeast Asia’s largest economy had enough coal reserves to last for another 500 years, amounting to 134.24 billion tonnes in total, whereas miners only extract 250 million tonnes annually.Source:https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2024/12/02/massive-costs-reforms-await-prabowo-full-coal-phase-out-plan.html (ICE GIACARTA)

Fonte notizia: The Jakarta Post, 2 December 2024