INGENIEUR
Coal Power Plant PT. Indonesia Power UJP JABAR 2 1050-megawatt (MW) coal-fired station Pelabuhan
Ratu Jawa Barat Indonesia
with 80% of its electricity generated by coal. The
country’s coal reserves are projected to last for
another 200 years. Australia, the fourth biggest
coal producer after China, India and the United
States (US), has coal contributing to 31.5% of its
energy mix.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on
Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR15), for atmospheric
temperature increase to remain below 1.5°C and
in order to avoid the worst climate impacts, the
share of coal in global electricity generation in
2050 needs to be reduced to practically zero or
zero to 2% of the existing level.
While the rest of the world is busy phasing
out coal powered energy in favour of greener,
less carbon-intensive options, Southeast Asia is
ramping up its coal plan, preparing for the fossil
fuel to meet 40% of the energy growth demand by
2040. While the numbers on the forecast report
for economic growth look good, it comes at the
expense of the region’s people. Many of whom,
together with those from neighbouring regions,
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are regarded as being most vulnerable to climate
change impacts.
Indonesia was among the top five biggest coal
producers in 2016, 80% of which was allocated for
export. While it targets an ambitious 29% emission
reduction, the country also plans to build 100
coal-fired power plants, while at the same time
expanding palm oil production, most probably,
at the expense of its forested areas. Indonesia
produced 6.3% or 460 million tons(Mt) of the
world’s coal in 2016. With 191 representatives
at COP24 in Katowice, Indonesia was one of the
top five countries with the biggest number of
delegates.
Two other Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia
and Thailand are in the top 10 biggest net
importers of coal, together absorbing more than
4% of exported coal globally at 53 million tons.
While coal’s proponents often wave about
the term ‘clean coal’ to support their continued
consumption, its exact definition is hard to
pin down. The ASEAN Clean Coal Technology
(CCT) Handbook for Power Plants by the ASEAN