Major power plant may scale back for cleaner air

Choking on pollution: A file photo of children walking along a hill of a village near a coal-fired power plant in Suralaya, Banten province. The Suralaya plants are some of the main sources of electricity for Jakarta, but they have also been blamed for high air pollution levels. — Reuters

The nation may shut down a portion of a coal-fired power plant near Jakarta to reduce air pollution affecting the city, a senior minister said.

The country is looking at closing two gigawatts (GW) of power capacity at the four GW Suralaya coal-fired power complex in Indonesia’s Banten province that is owned by state utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Luhut Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, who oversees some commodity policies, said at a solar power conference.