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Indonesia: Govt revises down projected growth in electricity demand
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has announced a downward revision of its electricity procurement target because of an unexpected slowdown in the growth of electricity demand.
In the 2019-2028 electricity procurement plan (RUPTL), the projected growth of electricity demand is set at 6.42 percent annually, down from 6.86 percent in the 2016-2025 RUTL.
Therefore, the ministry also revised down its targets for the construction of electricity transmission networks, substations, distribution networks and distribution stations.
“The downward revision of the infrastructure development is to adjust it to the demand,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, he added, the expected contribution of coal-fired power plants to total electricity production increased from 54.4 percent to 54.6 percent, while the role of gas-powered plants decreased from 22.2 percent to 22 percent.
Under the new RUPTL, the targeted contribution of renewable energy to overall electricity production increased to 16.7 gigawatts from 14.9 GW in the previous RUTL, he said, adding that the targeted installed capacity of all power plants was 56,395 megawatts.
Another significant change was that the new RUTL allowed for the construction of renewable energy and gas-powered plants to proceed without the projects being included in the annually revised RUPTL.
Jonan said the policy was introduced to boost renewable energy development, which currently contributed some 13 percent to grid power. The government has set a target to jack up the contribution of renewables from less than 10 percent in 2017 to 23 percent by 2025. (bbn)
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/02/21/govt-revises-down-projected-growth-in-electricity-demand.html