Indonesia's plan to retire coal plants 'challenging'

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's commitment to phase out coal plants in 15 years might be a tall order but not impossible, as long as there is political will, adequate financing and technology to advance the country's energy transition, analysts said. Indonesia, a signatory to the Paris Agreement, has set a net zero emissions target by 2060 and has committed to phase out coal plants while boosting renewable energy capacity. "Although it is a challenging goal, with the right plan, policies, investment and international support, Indonesia has the potential to retire all of the coal-fired power plants within 15 years and replace them with renewable energy sources," Mutya Yustika, an energy finance specialist for Indonesia at the think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told China Daily. Ember, an independent global energy think tank, released a report on Wednesday which estimated that Indonesia needs to add 8 gigawatts of renewable capacity while reducing coal usage by 3 GW each year for on-grid power if it wants to hit its target of phasing out all coal power plants by 2040.The country also needs to integrate 4 gigawatt-hours of battery storage annually until 2040 so that it can maximize solar energy usage, especially during peak demand periods in the non-solar hours. Putra Adhiguna, the Jakarta-based managing director of the independent think tank Energy Shift Institute, said Prabowo's coal plant phase-out target "is appreciated but it will need very high commitment, beginning by outlining near-term targets in Indonesia's electricity plans".