KONTAN.CO.ID-JAKARTA. Indonesia's coal production realization is predicted to exceed the target. Lana Saria, the Director of Coal Business Development at the Directorate General of Minerals and Coal of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), said that this year's national coal production has the potential to reach 775 million tons.

Just so you know, this number is larger than the government's original target, which was 694.5 million tons.

This year's production increase is suspected to correlate with economic growth post-Covid-19.

“The economic development in Indonesia and the world post-Covid-19 requires more energy than previous years, so there is an increase in production levels,” Lana said in a discussion themed The Strategic Role of Coal in Energy Transition held by the Energy & Mining Editor Society (E2S), on Friday (15/12).

This year's coal export sales volume has indeed increased. Data from the Ministry of ESDM's Minerba One Map Indonesia (MODI) shows that the realization of coal exports this year reached 369.13 million tons as of December 15, 2023.

Although there is still half a month left in December 2023, the export realization as of December 15, 2023, exceeds the export sales realization in 2022, which amounted to 367.94 million tons for the full year. 

On the other hand, coal still dominates domestic electricity. Eko Yuniarto, the Acting Director of PLN EPI Operations, said that coal contributes 67% to the current domestic electricity mix.

The other 33% of the electricity mix comes from gas and LNG energy sources, while the rest is geothermal, hydro, and others.

Eko estimates that the contribution of coal to the electricity mix will remain more or less the same next year. This is due to the entry of several steam power plant (PLTU) projects into the electricity system, along with the entry of electricity from renewable energy sources.

“Because there is the entry of PLTU Jawa 9 & 10 plus with Tanjung Jati  5&6 , it will be utilized, plus with (PLTU) Batang,” said Eko (15/12)

Ezra Sibarani, the Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Mining Association (IMA), said that the coal production of companies has indeed tended to increase from year to year recently. 

He also said this is not separate from the trend of coal price developments in the market.

“Because indeed, coal is very attractive, especially in the last 2 years its price has been very good. So all producers are boosting production,” said Ezra (15/12).

Editor: Syamsul Azhar