Indonesia has 104 billion tons of coal resources and 22 billion tons of proven reserves. It is projected that Indonesia’s coal production in 2012 will reach 380 million tons, topping the government’s target of 332 million tons, with about 82.07 million tons (24.72%) allocated for obligations in the domestic market. 57.2 million tons of that will go to the state-owned electricity company PT PLN, absorb while the rest will go to Independent Power Producers (IPP) and other industries.
So that's nearly 300 million tons which will exported, much of it to China and India and largely for use in power plants.
SBY has said that coal will be the driving force of Indonesia's economy this year.
With the total domestic demand for coal taking a mere 24.72 percent of annual production, the government should consider construction of as many coal fired steam power plants as possible.Only by promoting coal as energy and economic booster, rather than revenue driver, can the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s vision of harnessing energy and mineral resources for the public welfare be realized.
If by "economic booster" it is meant that coal should be owned, bought and sold by outside interests, then Indonesia is on track.Down To Earth lists the then current (August 2010) and the potential foreign investors in Indonesia's coal mining industry:- Anglo Coal (subsidiary of UK-listed Anglo American plc and based in South Africa)
- Banpu Public Company Ltd (Thailand)
- BHP Billiton (Australia and the UK)
- Binani Cement (India)
- China Investment Corp in partnership with PT Bumi Resources
- Churchill Mining Plc (UK)
- CIL (Coal India Ltd)
- Essar Steel (India, and UK-registered)
- GMR Energy (India)
- Kangaroo Resources (Australia)
- Lanco (India)
- Leighton Group (Australia)
- MEC (United Arab Emirates)
- Noble Group (Hong Kong)
- North American Coal Corporation (USA)
- NTPC (India)
- Peabody Energy (USA)
- PTC India (India)
- RAK (Dubai)
- Ramky Infrastructure Ltd (India)
- Reliance Power (India)
- Rognar Holding B.V (Netherlands) together with Sojitz Corp. (Japan)
- Sahin Jain (India)
- Samtan Co (South Korea)
- Shenhua Group (China)
- Straits Asia Resources (Singapore)
- Tata (Tata Sons) (India)
- Thiess (Australia)
There are, of course, several Indonesian companies active in the coal trade. Seventeen coal mining companies are currently listed at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) and have experienced "an outstanding growth of net profits" due to "increasing coal prices."
The most prominent is Bumi Plc., which has the largest coal-producing assets in Indonesia, is the largest sea-borne coal exporter of thermal coal and is also one of the fastest growing as it cashes in on demand from utilities in India and China. It expects output to jump to 140 million metric tons by 2014 from an expected 86 million this year.The Bakrie Group, headed by Abdurizal Bakrie, presidential hopeful, and Borneo Lumbung, headed by Samin Tan, jointly own a 47.6 percent stake in Bumi Plc., which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Last November, to finance the mandatory repayment of a one-year loan that had been due to mature this month, the Bakrie Group sold 23.8 % of Bumi Plc, about half the Bakrie family's stake, to coal miner PT Borneo Lumbung Energi & Metal Tbk in a $1 billion deal. The finance institutions involved included the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, which arranged the loan, and a group of hedge funds..Borneo Lumbung arranged a five year loan of $1 billion with Standard Chartered Bank for in order to buy into Bumi Plc.
So, that's an even larger chunk of Indonesia's natural resources in hock to the international banking community, much of which has been bailed out with taxpayers' money.
Burning coal produces about 12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year which is released to the atmosphere, about 70% of this being from power generation. Other estimates put carbon dioxide emissions from power generation at one third of the world total of over 28 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions.Health risks associated with using coal as an energy source.
Coal by itself is not harmful but ....
Coal-burning plants are some of the worst industrial polluters in the United States, producing CO2, a major contributor to global warming, mercury, highly toxic if ingested or inhaled, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA, contends that sulfur dioxide promotes heart disease and asthma, while nitrogen oxides destroy lung tissue.
A coal-fueled plant has been known to produce more radioactive material than a nuclear power plant.
In 2010, the Indonesian government announced a list of 93 power plants to be built under the second 10,000-megawatt (MW) power generation scheme.This second project is expected to promote the use of clean and renewable energy, but coal-fired power plants will still contribute significantly.
Of the total capacity, up to 1,204 MW (12%) will be generated by hydroelectric plants; 1,660 MW (16%) from gas combined-cycle plants; 3,977 MW (39%) from geothermal plants, and 3,312 MW (33%) from coal-fired plants.
Development of new "clean coal" technologies is addressing this problem so that the world's enormous resources of coal can be utilised for future generations without contributing to global warming. Much of the challenge is in commercialising the technology so that coal use remains economically competitive despite the cost of achieving low and eventually near "zero emissions".
In other words, there is not, as yet, a way to ensure that coal-powered power plants will not contribute to climate change.
Footnote
It's not just the burning of coal which is hazardous to life as we know it.
PT Sinar Mas, through its Sinar Mas Agro division, also known as PT SMART, has been the recipient of worldwide condemnation and boycotts following the publication of a report by Greenpeace (.pdf) in 2010 which alleged that its palm oil and forestry plantations were the cause of widespread rainforest and orangutan habitat destruction.
These allegations were reinforced by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which found that there had been serious non-compliance with the RSPO Code of Conduct, specifically a failure by SMART to work towards implementation and certification of the RSPO Principles and Criteria.
And as recently as December last year, fresh allegations were made that Sinar Mas continues to encroach on protected forestsThis week, the coal unit of the Sinar Mas group conglomerate has reported that its 2011 profits after tax surged almost six fold to Rp.302 billion (US$32.91 million).
And the name of its coal unit offers a direct link to my introduction.
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