PLN’S Coal Consumption May Reach 58,6 Million Tons Next Year

State electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara’s (PLN) coal consumption may increase by more than 95 percent to 58.6 million tons next year from only about 30 million tons this year due to the operation of new coal-fired power plants, Ministry of Energy’s Director General of Mineral and Geothermal Bambang Setiawan said. 

Bambang said that with the operation of the new coal-fired power plants, PLN would be able to reduce diesel oil consumption by about 4 million kiloliters to between 5 million and 6 million kiloliters from about 9 million kiloliters this year. 

PLN is building dozens of new coal-fired power plants as part of its Phase One 10,000-MW power plant development plan. A number of the power plants are expected to operate at the end of this year.

 

The plants that will operate starting the end of this year are PLTU Suralaya with a capacity of 625 MW, PLTU Indramayu (900 MW), PLTU Rembang (630 MW) , PLTU Paiton VII (660 MW) , while those which will begin operation in 2011 are PLTU Lontar (945 MW), PLTU Pelabuhan ratu (1,050 MW), PLTU Pacitan (630 MW), and PLTU Cirebon (660 MW) .

Meanwhile, India will pass Japan to be the biggest buyer of Indonesian coal by 2011, said Bob Kamandanu, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association. Coal imports by India may rise to 70 million metric tons, up from 40 million tons this year, Kamandanu told reporters on the sidelines of Coaltrans Upgrading Coal Forum in Jakarta. 

“In the past, India only bought high quality coal, but now they started buying a lot of low-rank coal also because of an increase in domestic consumption,” Kamandanu said. Low-rank coal is the fuel with energy value of as much as 5,000 kilocalories a kilogram.

Japan is still the biggest buyer of Indonesian coal this year with imports of about 60 million tons, he said. South Korea ranks third behind India, Kamandanu said. 

Coal prices may rise to $100 a ton by the end of this year because of bad weather, which has disrupted mining in Indonesia, and port bottlenecks in Australia, Kamandanu said.

“Demand is there and it’s normally high at the end of the year due to cold temperature and it will support prices,” he said. 

Indonesia may produce about 305 million tons of coal this year of which 240 million will be exported, Kamandanu said.