JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia may shut down a portion of a coal-fired power plant near Jakarta to reduce air pollution affecting the city, a senior minister said on Wednesday.
The country is looking at closing 2 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity at the 4 GW Suralaya coal-fired power complex in Indonesia’s Banten province that is owned by state utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Luhut Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, who oversees some commodity policies, said a solar power conference.
“(Shutting down Suralaya) is important for air pollution in Jakarta,” Luhut said. “We are working on that and we will announce soon.”
PLN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PLN operates eight units at the Suralaya power complex west of Jakarta, with the oldest unit in operation since the 1980s.
The Suralaya plants are some of the main sources of electricity for Jakarta, but they have also been blamed for high air pollution levels in the city of 10 million.
Jakarta residents have complained of toxic air from chronic traffic, industrial smoke and coal-fired power plants. Some of them launched and won a civil lawsuit in 2021 demanding the government take action to control air pollution.
Rachmat Kaimuddin, a deputy maritime minister, said on the sidelines of the conference that discussions on cost calculations and other details for the close down of some of Suralaya’s units were underway.
While Indonesia is considering shutting some units at Suralaya, PLN is adding capacity there as well.
Through its joint venture with Indonesian firm Barito Pacific named PT Indo Raya Tenaga, PLN is developing 2 GW of more modern coal-fired capacity at Suralaya to provide power for Java and Bali.
The new power capacity will be operational by the end of August, state news agency Antara reported last week.
($1 = 15,440.0000 rupiah)
(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
