Gov’t Cuts 10.37 Million Tonnes of Carbon Emissions from Power Plants in 2021
Source: ESDM.go.id
In a bid to provide access to green energy and achieve the net-zero emission scenario by 2060, the Indonesian Government has announced it has successfully cut 10.37 million tonnes of carbon emissions from power plants or 210.8 percent of the 4.92 million tonnes target.
“This concerns (Indonesia’s contribution) to the future of the planet. We are committed to reducing them. Based on the 2021 target, we recorded the figure of more than 200 percent,” Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources’ Director General of Electricity Rida Mulyana said in a release, which can be accessed on the Ministry’s website, Friday (01/21).
According to Rida, the reduction of carbon emissions from power plants from year to year shows significant development.
In 2020, the Ministry set a reduction target of 4.71 million tonnes, while the result stood at 8.78 million tonnes or 186 percent of the target.
Meanwhile in 2022, the Ministry has set a target to reduce 5.36 million tonnes of carbon emission from power plants.
“We will aim for this number in 2022,” he said.
In the meantime, in order to continuously reduce carbon emissions, the Government has also drawn up the principles on carbon neutrality implementation and an energy transition roadmap, one of which is through the implementation of a carbon tax and carbon trading.
“We will start imposing carbon tax from April 1, 2022 through a cap-and-trade scheme,” Rida added.
The scheme, Rida added, specifically applies to coal-fired power plants (PLTU) with a capacity of 25-100 megawatts and is planned to be effectively implemented in 2023.
However, the Government divided the cap of greenhouse gas emissions into three classifications, namely non-mine-mouth coal-fired power plants with a capacity above 400 megawatts, non-mine-mouth coal-fired power plants with a capacity of 100-400 megawatts, and mine-mouth coal-fired power plants with a capacity of over 100 megawatts.
The exemption, Rida added, was made to account for factors of providing electricity to the community.
Despite their small capacities, he added, coal-fired power plants with a capacity of 25-100 megawatts form the backbone of the electricity supply outside of Java island.
“Do not impair our electricity supply service. Just because they emit high carbon emissions so we close them down and [night] will be pitch dark. It is not a good solution. We cannot close them down because of their emissions if we do not have the replacement yet,” he added.
For the record, the Ministry is also drafting a regulation on the implementation of the carbon economic value (NEK) of power plants.
The proposed mechanism is that the Ministry will issue an Emissions Technical Approval (PTE) for coal-fired plants through the Directorate General of Electricity.
Afterward, the PTE will be given to a coal-fired power plant installation unit in a unit of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) and be based on the emission cap (tonnes of CO2e/MWh) multiplied by the gross production (MWh) planned at the beginning of the year.
“Trading is carried out between trial participants by limiting the maximum trading from a surplus power plant unit at 70 percent and the offset is determined from the mitigation action of a new and renewable energy power plant at 30 percent,” Rida remarked. (PR of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources/UN) (FI/EP)
