Coal Fired Power Plants To Cope With Crisis In Power Supply

Jakarta, Sept 3 (Antara) - A legislator asked the government to continue prioritizing development of coal-fired power plants to cope with crisis in power supply in the future. Member of the Commission VII of the House of Representatives Bobby Rizaldi said here on Tuesday coal generated electricity is the cheapest of all types of power. Bobby said the government could start by building more coal-fired power plants to meet domestic power requirement before embarking on more expensive renewable energy project. "In order to meet the target in mixed energy , we have to start from coal-fired power to save fund as the cost of developing renewable energy is still too expensive," he said. Gas especially oil would be more expensive with the shrinking reserves, he said. Currently is the right time to boost development of coal-fired power plants as coal prices are declining on weak demand in international market, he said. "The government should take advantage of coal price fall," he said. He acknowledge the pollution problem to the environment from the burning of coal , but it could reduced with the application of technology and imposition of analysis on environmental impact. He said fund raised from the increase in the electricity tariff, should be used build more facilities to coupe with crisis in power supply. "We in the parliament have agreed with the plan to raise the electricity tariff," he said. Earlier, director of construction and renewable energy of PT PLN Nasri Sebayang predicted crisis in power supply in Java with the delay in coming into line of at least five units of coal-fired power project with a total capacity of 6,000 MW. The five projects are to be operational in 2016-2018 , but completion is not likely as scheduled for a number of reasons. The five power generating projects include the units 8, 9 and 10 of PLTU Mulut Tambang Sumsel with a total capacity of 3,000 MW. Implementation of the projects is pending development of Sumatra-Java transmission cables. In addition, process of tender for the construction of the units 9 and 10 of PLTU Mulut Tambang Sumsel , under government-private cooperation scheme is also delayed . Other projects delayed in completion are PLTU Batang, Central Java with a capacity of 2x1,000 MW and PLTU Indramayu, West Java with a capacity of 1,000 MW. Construction of PLTU Batang is delayed over difficulty in land clearing and Indramayu is over license procedure.