Indonesia seeks global assistance to accelerate the retirement of coal-fired power plants

Luhut Pandjaitan - Indonesia's senior mining minister - said that the Indonesian government was asking global leaders for assistance in negotiating with lenders for a faster coal power plant retirement as well as access to financing for energy transition.

He told the Coaltrans Asia conference in Bali that Indonesia needs $94.6 billion to develop clean energy transmission and generation infrastructure by 2030.

The Minister said that the government has asked for lower rates for early shutdown schemes from financiers.

He said, "The interest rate on the financing needs to be attractive, you know. If they give a commercial-interest, what's their point?"

Indonesia has received a pledge of $20 billion in funding under the Just Energy Transition Partnership led by the Group of Seven, but the amount disbursed so far is minimal.

Indonesia is currently in negotiations with Asian Development Bank to shut down the 660 MW Cirebon-1 Power Plant in West Java.

The government also plans to shut down a portion of the capacity at

Suralaya

Details of the plan, which is owned by state utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara to reduce air pollution in Jakarta are still being discussed. (Reporting and writing by Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by John Mair).

(source: Reuters)