Indonesia might be bigger than you thought. | Image credit: Overlaymaps
Time to pay attention to the fourth largest population in the world.
You might have reused some shopping bags to save the planet but two hundred million people quietly doubled their coal use:
Indonesia’s coal consumption remains high: BP
The BP Statistical Review 2016 revealed on Wednesday that Indonesia’s coal consumption had doubled since 2010. Last year, coal became the country’s dominant source of fuel, accounting for 41 percent of total energy consumption.
Studies show coal consumption remains popular in Indonesia despite its damaging environmental impacts. The government has committed to an ambitious 35,000 megawatt electricity program, in which coal-fueled power plants will still make up the majority of electricity generation, at around 50 percent.
As coal got cheap, Indonesia exported less and used more of it domestically.
They don’t seem to following the IPCC’s plan.
Indonesia will soon have more advanced coal fired power stations than Australia:
Japan’s major conglomerate Itochu Corporation and one of world’s major electricity company, Electric Power Development Co. Ltd (J. Power), have promised to fully support the construction of the coal-fired Batang power plant in Central Java, which will become not only the most efficient but also cleanest thermal power plant in Southeast Asia.
He said that the Batang coal-fired power plant would be the showcase of the company’s latest power generation technology called the ultra-supercritical (USC) technology, which is not only able to improve efficiency but also significantly reduce emission, including carbon dioxide and mercury.
With the USC technology, the power plants operate their boilers at temperatures and pressure above the critical point of water, which results an efficiency of above 45 percent.
Indonesia’s coal fired electricity will be cleaner and more efficient than Australias. (No one is going to invest in better coal plants in an advanced economy like Australia.)
Who’s a quiet coal giant then? Australia provides about 30% of world coal trade, and it’s our largest export industry, but Indonesia digs up about the same amount of coal as Australia exported a few years ago:
Last year, Indonesia only produced 383 million tons of coal, falling short of the 425 million tons target. Although this year’s target has been trimmed to 419 million tons, BMI Research, a unit of Fitch Group, predicts that only 314 million tons will be produced by the year-end.
Today Australia digs up 550Mt of coal in total, and exports about 480Mt.
A quarter of Indonesia’s economy is fossil fuels. The plan is “more”:
The appointment of Arcandra Tahar as the energy and mineral resources minister signaled strongly that the focus of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had shifted back to oil and gas, as well as coal.
The President is aware that the sector is in jeopardy, especially given that a quarter of Indonesia’s economy comes from oil and gas. Investment in this sector has stagnated
They too wonder about the Trump effect, but suspect shale will keep the coal boom away:
It was part of Trump’s campaign last month to boost the coal industry in the world’s second-largest economy. Will it affect the world’s coal industry, especially Indonesia as the main coal exporter in Southeast Asia? Many people doubt that. Bloomberg has even reported that doubts have arisen recently in the US over Trump’s ability to revive coal’s glory, as abundant shale gas has structurally eroded the coal market.
h.t Willie S.