Mongabay, Jakarta—Indonesia’s new 10-year plan for electricity generation maintains the country’s heavy reliance on coal and will hinder stated efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, experts say.
The plan, known as the RUPTL, calls for adding 40.6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity capacity nationwide between 2021 and 2030, a third of which, 13.8 GW, will come from burning coal. The government and the plan’s designer, state-owned electricity utility PLN, have cdescribed the plan as a “Green RUPTL,” on the basis that just over half of the additional capacity, or 20.9 GW, will come from “new and renewable” energy sources. The government’s definition of the latter includes commonly accepted forms of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, but also more questionable sources, such as gasified coal, biomass (burning wood pellets) and nuclear.
The RUPTL is part of the Indonesian government’s effort to boost the overall share of renewables in the national energy mix to 23% by 2025 and achieve its Paris Agreement commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 29% by 2030. It also has a longer-term plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its latest report has set a global target for the international community to shut down 80% of existing coal plants and have 50% of renewables in the energy mix by 2030.