"We may import 9 million mt of coal next year. We are considering such an option as domestic coal producers seem unable to meet our demand," the president director of PLN Dahlan Iskan said. "If domestic coal supply [is] unable to fulfill our demand, we will have our own solution."
Iskan added that PLN has already started informal discussions with one Australian coal producer.
This move suggests that the agreement in early August with PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam has fallen through.
"We have secured PTBA's commitment to supply 9 million mt/year, but the period has yet to be decided," the official said at the time.
But, he added at the same time: "We have to seek other sources for the sake of security of coal supply."
PLN expects to consume 40.7 million mt in 2011 due to additional capacity coming online under its 10,000 MW coal-fired project.
In 2010, the company is forecasting consumption to dip 12.7% to 26 million mt from an earlier estimate of 29.8 million mt due to a delay of the operation of its power plants, the primary energy director of PLN, Nur Pamudji, said last month.
Pamudji mentioned that PLN had considered, as recently as one month ago, inviting bids for 9 million mt/year of imports to offset the lack of domestic supply to feed PLN's power plants.
The government originally instructed PLN to build 10,000 MW of additional coal-fired power plant capacity by 2010 to meet the country's rapid growth in electricity demand. This program deadline has since been pushed back to 2013 as it attempts to reduce its dependence on costly oil-fuelled generation.
The crash development program is running three years behind schedule due to some issues including loan availability delayed progress, PLN's former director Agung Nugroho said last year.
Indonesia estimates its electricity demand will grow at rate of 9%/year.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1403616.html