Costs, Benefits, and Implications of Intervening the 13.8 GW Coal-fired Power Plants Project Pipeline of Indonesia’s State-owned Utility

This study discovered that canceling nine units of coal plants totaling 3 GW currently under construction will have no effect on reliability or cost and that early retirement is the cheapest option in terms of investment and carbon cost compared to achieving the 2050 net-zero goal. We are fully aware that the cancellation should not be decided unilaterally by PLN in order to avoid a legal dispute, but making it happen requires both PLN and IPPs to agree on the cancellation and compensation terms for the IPP.

Last but not least, with this study, IESR has contributed to the thinking on achieving Indonesia’s energy sector’s net-zero goal. It is up to the government and PLN to take action based on this analysis. We hope other countries can use this new approach to find the most cost-effective measures for their coal pipelines.