Indonesia: Govt, House to look again at nuclear role in electricity generation

Indonesia: Govt, House to look again at nuclear role in electricity
generation

Constrained by high costs associated with tapping alternative energy sources
to fossil fuels, the government has revived discussion on its long-shelved
nuclear plan with the House of Representatives.

House Commission VII overseeing energy has opened the discussions with
relevant ministries following the passage of a law to ratify the Paris
Agreement, which sealed the country's commitment to cut carbon emissions.

The government shelved the plan to build its first nuclear power plant in
the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.

Although nuclear was mentioned as an alternative renewable energy source in
a government regulation on the National Energy Policy (KEN), the adoption of
nuclear power has not been included in the long-term strategy plan of
state-owned power operator PLN, which has become increasingly reliant on
coal.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told The Jakarta Post
that the government should consider nuclear to meet energy demand, arguing
that, despite its controversial nature, nuclear is categorized as clean
energy.

Safety concerns have dominated most discussions on the development of
nuclear power, given that Indonesia lies amid the volatile Pacific Ring of
Fire. The country has delayed the development for years and its energy
policy stipulates that nuclear power development should only be a "last
resort".

"I don't think there would be any bad impact from the use [of nuclear
power]. It's clean energy," the minister said. "There are, indeed, some
worries about leakages, but I guess we should learn from other countries
[that already use the energy]."

If the government decides to adopt nuclear power, it would be decided by the
National Energy Council, which is led by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. Two
sites, Bangka and Jepara, have been studied as possible locations.

Indonesia has ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change, which aims to
formalize the country's commitment to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases, within an international framework reached by the
UN in 2015 in an effort to curb climate change.

To realize the effort, House Commission VII has argued that the use of new
and renewable energy, particularly nuclear, needs to be considered, to
reduce the use of gas, oil and coal as energy sources.

"It's a good time to open the possibility of developing a nuclear power
plant, but that doesn't mean we will stop using coal, gas or oil. We have to
revise our national energy policy. If needed, we will revise the Energy Law
to make nuclear power no longer a last resort," Commission VII member
Kurtubi of the NasDem Party said.

Energy consumption in Indonesia is expected to rise exponentially as a
result of population growth, and with the dependence on fossil fuels it will
be a major carbon-emission contributor alongside deforestation, with energy
overtaking deforestation as the largest carbon-emission contributor as early
as 2020.

In 2015, 55.9 percent of electricity was generated by coal, 25.7 percent by
gas and 8.5 percent by oil. Renewable energy sources, such as hydropower and
geothermal energy, only make up the remaining 9.9 percent of electricity
generation, according to PLN.

The government had planned to shift from fossil fuels to cleaner renewable
energy by increasing electricity generation from renewable energy to 25
percent by 2025. However, this commitment by the government has been
questioned as it recently lowered the percentage of electricity to be
generated by renewable energy by 2025 to 19.6 percent.

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Ref:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/25/govt-house-look-again-nuclear-
role-electricity-generation.html

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com