Jakarta – The Clean Indonesia Advocacy Team believes that the government’s recently approved plan to invest more than USD 1 trillion in the 2025–2060 National Electricity Master Plan (RUKN) will keep Indonesia dependent on fossil fuels until 2060, rather than accelerating the transition to renewable energy.
The Clean Indonesia Advocacy Team considers the RUKN to be contrary to Presidential Regulation No. 112/2022 and the National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN), which emphasise the acceleration of coal-fired power plant retirement.
“Instead of decommissioning coal-fired power plants, this RUKN actually diverts them. We are filing this lawsuit so that the government will revoke the RUKN and redraft it with a more realistic renewable energy roadmap,” said Alif Fauzi Nurwidiastomo, a public lawyer at LBH Jakarta, on Friday, September 26, after filing the lawsuit with the Jakarta Administrative Court.
Alif said that the right to a healthy environment is a human right. “The state cannot turn a blind eye to the impacts of pollution and the climate crisis. This RUKN clearly harms the people,” he said.
RUKN requires an investment of USD 1.092 billion, or approximately USD 30.33 billion per year. This scheme involves extending the operation of 54 GW of coal-fired power plants until 2060, with a potential peak of 62.4 GW, achieved through a combination of 5–30 per cent biomass co-firing. Additionally, the government plans to construct a 35–44 GW nuclear power plant.
“RUKN has chosen the most wasteful and risky path. Instead of reducing emissions with clean energy, the government is extending the operation of coal-fired power plants and adding false solutions such as biomass co-firing and expensive and unproven CCS technology,” said Ahmad Ashov Birry, Program Director of Trend Asia, on Friday, September 25.
“The government has a choice. (But) the choice it has made forces this nation to pay dearly for dirty energy until 2060,” said Ashov.
Ashov warned that this strategy would burden the people. “Electricity prices could skyrocket, the subsidy burden would become heavier, while the health impacts and environmental damage from coal-fired power plants continue to affect communities in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Bali, Sulawesi, and Nusa Tenggara,” he said.
Expensive and unrealistic solutions
Plans to implement carbon capture and storage (CCS) for coal-fired power plants and gas are also considered unreasonable. To date, only four or five coal-fired power plants in the world use CCS, at a cost up to 12 times that of renewable energy.
Meanwhile, the biomass co-firing policy has the potential to drive deforestation of millions of hectares to meet raw material needs. On the other hand, investment in nuclear power plants, which are touted as a clean solution, is considered risky due to limited domestic uranium reserves.
“The electricity tariff for nuclear power plants is clearly more expensive than the current basic electricity tariff. In fact, because the raw materials must be imported, Indonesia could become trapped in a dependence on new energy sources that pose a risk to its energy sovereignty,” said Wicaksono Gitawan, Program and Policy Manager at CERAH.
The Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) has previously calculated that if Indonesia increases the share of renewable energy, decommissions coal-fired power plants earlier, reduces dependence on gas and CCS, and scraps nuclear plans, costs could be reduced to one-third of the current RUKN investment requirements. (Hartatik)
Banner photo: Photo: Indonesia Digital Campaigner 350.org
