JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has temporarily banned coal exports (pic) from January 1 to 31, 2022, to ensure the availability of coal stocks for domestic power plants.
The export ban is aimed at the holders of mining business permits (IUPs) and coal mine company work contracts (PKP2Bs), Director Ggeneral of Mineral and Coal at the ministry Ridwan Jamaludin said.
Declining coal supply could affect more than 10 million customers of state-run electric company PT PLN (Persero), he explained.
This figure constitutes both the general public and the industry, he elaborated.
If the export ban is not enforced, it could cause an outage at 20 coal-fired power stations generating 10.850 megawatts of power, he said.
“This could potentially disturb the stability of the national economy. When the coal supply for the power plants is enough or returns to normal, then we can export,” Jamaludin informed.
“We will evaluate it after January 5, 2022,” he said.
The government has reminded coal entrepreneurs to fulfill their commitment to supplying coal to PLN, he added.
However, in practice, the coal supply for PLN has been below the obligated coal sale percentage for domestic requirement (DMO) each month, he pointed out.
This caused PLN to experience a coal supply deficit at the end of 2021, he informed.
According to Jamaludin, a secure coal supply at PLN’s coal-fired power station is above 20 days of operation.
Until January 1, 2022, of the 5.1 million metric tons targeted by the government, only 35 thousand metric tons were delivered, or less than one percent, he noted.
“This figure could not fulfill the need of every power plant. If we do not make a strategic move, there will be a widespread power outage,” he affirmed.
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