State utility company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara or PLN will likely buy 100 MnT of coal from domestic coal producers this year to cater the growing energy needs in Indonesia.
The amount would be more than that bought last year, Kontan reported quoting Djoko Rahardjo Abumanan, director for East Java and Nusa Tenggara division of PLN as saying on Jan 9.
State utility PLN,accountable for providing power to Indonesia’s 260 Million population, was reported to have bought 92 MnT of coal in 2018 for the same purpose.
Indonesia plans to build more coal-fired power plants this year as part of the massive program to generate more than 35,000 MW power in the coming years. In turn, that would require PLN to buy more coal, which remains the biggest source of power in Indonesia.
“There will be more plants this year,” to build, Djoko Rahardjo said.
Indonesia last year introduced a ruling to cap the price of domestic coal for power stations at USD 70/MT. The ruling would be effective until the end of this year, according to media reports.
The ruling to cap the coal prices came as a blow to many Indonesian miners as they could not benefit from the rise in global coal market but had help the state power company PLN to procure coal at lesser price.
Providing power to Indonesia’s achipelagic nation has been a huge burden for President Joko Widodo.
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