Steam Electricity Power Plant (PLTU): The Politics of Energy in

Indonesia

Hilda Rahma

and Nur Qomariyah Imzastini

Department of Sociology, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada

Keywords: PLTU, politics of energy, climate change, industrialization, Government

Abstract: The present research aims to reveal the interests of developmentalism actors, both foreign investors and

government behind the developmental of Steam Electricity Power Plant (Indonesian abbreviation as PLTU)

projects in some areas in Indonesia. PLTU is a power plant that makes use of the combustion of coal in order

to generate electricity. This project is a proponent of coal sector that has been in financial global crisis due to

coal power plants which were left behind in some developed countries. This is because coal produces toxic

substances which cause environmental damages and global climate change. Conversely, the construction of

coal power plants is becoming more massive in Indonesia, assisted by foreign investors to get involved in

project funding. The results of the research show that the construction of PLTUs in Indonesia becomes a

promising business because it makes industrial sectors bigger and adds more income for investors. The politics

of energy behind the construction of PLTUs features interest to use of nature as object of exploitation to make

profits. The consequence of this project causes global climate change. However, the mission of equalization

of electrical energy from PLTU project has not been met in some remote areas. By using qualitative approach

with literature studies method, this paper explains the findings based on sources of data from reading materials

including books, research reports, printed and electronic media focused on the study related to the

development of PLTU in Indonesia.

1 INTRODUCTION

Indonesia as a developing country has many

opportunities to develop its abundant natural

resources in various sectors of life. The opportunities

to manage natural resources are done through

development of the country. The consequence of

these massive developments in Indonesia is

inequality of development. It makes natural resource

management in some areas become less maximal, so

that it leads to limitation. NTT and Papua are the

examples of areas in Indonesia that still have

limitation issue, particularly in provision of electrical

energy. The limitation is perceived by more than one

thousand villages, both in NTT and Papua (iesr.or.id,

2017). This issue is very ironic considering that both

of the areas have abundant natural resources. For

example, NTT has a number of natural potentials

including wind, sun, water, geothermal, and ocean

currents that have not been used (merdeka.com,

2018).

In order to increase economic growth and

overcome the energy limitation issue, the government

through State Electricity Company (PLN) in

cooperation with the private sector conducted a

number of renewable innovations, one of them is by

developing Steam Electricity Power Plant (PLTU)

project. Through 35.000 MW electricity program

initiated by Joko widodo in 2014, PLTU has

dominated a number of power plant capacities in

Indonesia than other types of power plant

(bumn.go.id, 2011). The emergence of PLTU as an

economic alternative energy and its easy way to be

operated by using various fuels (solid, liquid or gas)

make the government to be more active in

constructing PLTUs in some areas in Indonesia.

There were 35 PLTU projects that 22 of them were

constructed and spread in some areas in Indonesia

such as Java, outside of Java and Bali (Tirto.id, 2017).

The massive PLTU construction projects in Indonesia

motivated some researchers and one of them was

research team of Harvard University to do a research

on the impacts of the constructions. This was because

coal as the source of energy in PLTU was left by

developed countries, included Europe.

Rahma, H. and Imzastini, N.

Steam Electricity Power Plant (PLTU): The Politics of Energy in Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0010273700002309

In Proceedings of Airlangga Conference on International Relations (ACIR 2018) - Politics, Economy, and Security in Changing Indo-Paciﬁc Region, pages 101-106

ISBN: 978-989-758-493-0

101

The results of a research by research team of

Harvard University show that coal produced toxic

pollutants such as mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium,

and toxic fine particles that damaged environment

and were harmful for human health (Koplitz, Jacob,

Sulprizio, & Reid, 2017). The results were published

and could be downloaded for free on google.com

since 2015, when the construction of PLTUs was

started in various areas in Indonesia. However, it

seemed that the research did not stop the construction

of PLTUs in Indonesia. Currently, developed

countries have initiated a number of renewable

technologies to substitute coal to generate electricity.

This fact is inversely proportional to Indonesia that

still develops PLTU as a renewable energy, and even

it voluntarily involves developmentalism actors such

as foreign investors to help the funding of the project.

It seems to be significant that Indonesia ignores the

impacts on environment or health issues to undergo

some questionable development practices including

for whom the benefits are and who the authority of its

stakeholders is. On the one hand, the construction of

PLTUs is able to overcome the energy limitation in

Indonesia, but on the other hand it has positioned

living environment or nature as the object and tool of

development to reinforce a series of interests

including capital accumulation for capital owners.

Based on the explanation, this paper aims to reveal a

series of interests of developmentalism actors, either

foreign investors or government behind the

construction of PLTUs through politicization of

natural resources and environment that have

ecological impacts.

2 METHOD

This paper used qualitative approach with literature

studies method in which the data were collected from

literature collections including books, journals,

documents, magazines, encyclopaedias, dictionaries,

etc. Literature studies allow the researcher to collect

relevant information without doing field research

(Harahap, 2014). The data used in this research were

the results of researches, in the form of journals and

various reading materials from electronic media and

online official sites. Various data collected from the

results of researches and electronic media about the

information that explained the development or

impacts of coal power plant, both countries in Asia

and Indonesia and also developmentalism actors of

PLTU project in Indonesia. The data were reduced to

get relevant results related to the focus of the study on

PLTU project in Indonesia.

3 RESULT

Electrification in Indonesia has been developed since

the late 19th century, when Dutch built power plants.

The management of Dutch Electricity Company was

taken over by Japan in between 1942-1945. The

electricity company finally fell into the

Indonesia’s hand after Japan surrendered to the allies

in the end of World War II in August 1945. After the

event, President Soekarno formed Electric and Gas

Services, under the Department of Public Works and

Energy. On 1st of January the Services was changed

into BPU-PLN (Badan Pemimpin Umum Perusahaan

Listrik Negara/General Board of State Electricity

Company) engaged in electricity, gas and coke. The

board was eventually dismissed and changed into two

state companies to manage state electricity and gas,

they were State Electricity Company (PLN) and State

Gas Company (PGS) on 1st of January 1961

(bumn.go.id, 2011).

Electrical energy in Indonesia has been managed

by an electrical institution, PT. PLN. Through Steam

Electricity Power Plant (PLTU) as a renewable

energy, PT. PLN is attempting to give electrical

service in the entire territory in Indonesia. The

position of PLTU is increasingly dominating the

power plants in Indonesia and it is supported by

35.000 MW electricity program, which is the

government’s project to build 35.000 MW power

plant for 5 years (2014-2019). This project has a

developmental mission that leads to economic

growth, in addition to meet electrical needs for

Indonesian societies. Through this project, it is

expected that the widespread of electricity will be

equal for all Indonesian communities, including in

remote villages (bumn.go.id, 2011).

In steam electricity power plant, the source of

energy is typically used to generate electricity. The

ways of PLTU to work is by using generator driven

by steam turbine from steam pressure generated by

water steam and it is heated by fuel in the boiler. Coal

power plant is very vital in all countries (Cahyadi, et

al., 2015). In fact, the popularity of coal as an energy

source of power plant has been left by developed

countries (Greenpeace Indonesia, 2015). In addition

to create economic growth, PLTU seems to answer

the interconnection network limitation that is not

enough to meet electricity needs for more complex

life of the society. Interconnection network often

overloads to help some big industries that need more

energy so that there are some cases one of them is

blackout as the impact of the weak network. PLTU

project is the most dominant power plant construction

ACIR 2018 - Airlangga Conference on International Relations

102

project with the spreading percentage is more than

50% (bumn.go.id, 2011).

3.1 Implication of PLTU in Indonesia

So far PLTU gives so many benefits, including

creating new jobs, increasing economic growth

because the industries are more productive and

providing electricity needs by using coal that is easy

to be obtained in Indonesia. The massive construction

of PLTUs in Indonesia is a phenomenon that attracted

researchers and academicians to conduct some

researches. Research team of Harvard University was

one of them that were interested to study the damages

of environment and human health issues caused by

PLTU in Indonesia. The results show that coal was

the largest contributor to air pollution and the largest

source of greenhouse gas emissions (GGE), which

triggered climate change. Coal mining caused

unfixable damages and one of them was direct

impacts on environmental elements such as soil,

water sources and air which were difficult to be

recovered. In fact, many CSR of companies change

the responsible for coal mining reclamation into other

fields, so that the damages of habitat and environment

are perceived not only by human but also other

creatures. According to a study conducted by

Greenpeace Indonesia in 2015, 300 km or 45% rivers

in South Kalimantan potentially contaminated with

hazardous waste from mining concessions.

International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that coal

contributed to 44% of the total global CO2 emission

caused climate change and exposed harmful and

deadly chemical substances such as mercury and

arsenic (Greenpeace Indonesia, 2015). The steps

technically performed to make use of coal as power

plant also contributed to some environmental issues.

The issues were caused when coal mining process

affected the natural exploitation, as well as clean

water issue caused by the use of water sources for coal

washing before coal was distributed and wasting of

transportation fuel in the process of distributing coal.

The information informs us about various negative

impacts caused by the construction of PLTUs that

ecologically damages natural ecosystem.

Further, the results show that the number of

premature death estimation due to operating PLTUs

is approximately 6.500 inhabitants/year. Java Island

is the most strategic area to build PLTUs because the

industries are growing rapidly. If the plan is realised,

it can be estimated that premature death will increase

to 15.700 inhabitants/year in Indonesia, and the

estimation of total death is 21.200 inhabitants/year

including outside of Indonesia (Greenpeace

Indonesia, 2015).

Other Asian countries, such as Myanmar also

perceives the impacts on its environment due to the

construction of coal power plants. Although it has not

been completely operated, the project assisted by

China has been created a number of environmental

issues including the exposure of ash, gas and

particulars produced by this project and it pollutes

farms, livestock and water sources of the cities and

ecosystem. The problems can also threat the lives of

local people due to health issues (Koplitz et al., 2017).

The impacts of coal mining and PLTU haunt the

natural life and the living things around it, and

unconsciously human will also feel the impacts

threatening their health and Research Team of

Harvard found that the issues could cause shot life.

3.2 Investigation of the Interest behind

PLTU Mega Project in Indonesia

Coal sector experienced a post global financial crisis

in 2008 caused by the low price of coal in

International market (Tirto.id, 2017). One of the

causes of that low price was the impacts on living

environment caused by the combustion of coal in

order to generate electricity in power plants. The

crisis caused great impacts on coal sector in

Indonesia. This was because Indonesia was one of the

countries that had abundant coal sources. In 2015, a

research found that Indonesia was the number one

coal exporter in the world, but there were 20%

Indonesian people who had not got electricity service

from the state. Most of the people were in small

islands far from the city centre. In general, Indonesia

has only 3% coals, therefore the government keep

exploring coal as the source of fuel. However, a

research then found that coal industries were able to

account for 4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in

Indonesia. The data was beyond expectation and

rejected the argument by the government that coal

industry was one of the proponents of economic

growth in Indonesia (Koplitz et al., 2017)

After being explored, the total availability of coal

resources in Indonesia reaches 119.444.56 million

tons, with 29.078.28 tons of reserve spread over 20

provinces in Indonesia. Sumatera and Kalimantan are

the centres of national coal production because they

have the largest coal sources and reserves (Fachlevi,

Putri, & Simanjuntak Sahat M H, 2015). The

operation of coal sector is the result of the

construction of PLTUs project supported with 35.000

MW initiated by the government. The limited

capacity of funding by the government is the

Steam Electricity Power Plant (PLTU): The Politics of Energy in Indonesia

103

backdrop to involve private sectors including coal

businessmen and investors in order to undergo the

PLTU project. Some dominant foreign investors to

fund the project are Japan and China. There are also

two local banks that contribute in funding-Mandiri

and Bank Indonesia. These banks are very exclusive,

because their contributions helped the mega project.

Market Forces research revealed that Japan and China

were the main funding sources. These contributions

cannot be separated from the roles of the two

countries as the biggest countries that provide

materials of PLTU (tirto.id, 2017).

The use of coal as power plant fuels in Indonesia

has been left by developed countries in Europe and

Asia, including Japan and China. The environmental

damages caused by coal encouraged the making of an

agreement about climate change in Paris in 2015. The

agreement was followed by some developed

countries from Europe and Asia to commit in

reducing emission which was considered to cause

climate change and global warming. Japan and China

involved in the agreement. Both of them agreed to

lower the average air temperature by 2% above the

global air temperature average, by pressing the use of

fossil energy (coal) and increasing the portion of

renewable energy (tirto.id, 2017).

In realising the agreement, Japan and China have

reduced the number of coal consumption as power

plant and changed over the use of wind and sun as the

materials to generate electricity (Koplitz et al., 2017).

On the other hand, both countries have undergone

business to develop PLTU in Indonesia and other

Asian countries such as Myanmar. Simultaneously,

what have done by Japan and China is big potential to

increase global temperature causing climate change.

The agreement of climate change followed by

japan and China did not make these countries stop

supplying PLTU equipment in some developing

countries, including Indonesia. Various research

findings related to the impacts caused by PLTUs did

not make the project be stopped by the government.

PLTU mega project in Indonesia became the most

interesting business to get unlimited profit by

exploiting natural resources, which were contested by

all authority holders. On one hand, this project was

able to supply funds to foreign countries as capital

owners, but on the other hand the project planned to

be an effort to provide the limitation of electricity

energy seemed to be beneficial only for many

industrial sectors in Indonesia whose existence

contributed to increase state revenues. What was

explained above seems to emphasize that behind the

development of PLTU mega project in Indonesia

there were a series of interests of developmentalism

actors including foreign investors and the government

to accumulate capital, particularly economic capital.

It is an ironic fact, considering that currently the

distribution of electricity is still not evenly distributed

throughout the territory of Indonesia.

4 DISCUSSION

PLTUs in Indonesia adopted a number of knowledge

from developed countries that were able to develop

coal power plant to supply electricity needs.

Referring to Foucault’s idea that knowledge and

power are two sides of a coin. The implementation of

power creates knowledge object, conversely

knowledge creates power influences and it can be

used to dominate others (Sarup, 2003). The adoption

of knowledge shows that by using their knowledge,

developed countries are able to dominate developing

countries in their efforts to transform into developed

countries. Simultaneously, knowledge is able to

intervene developing countries to follow the ways and

standards performed by developed countries in order

to overcome the limitation of electricity issue.

Further, the development of PLTUs in various

areas in Indonesia shows that there is a political

practice between human and nature. On the other

hand, Japan and China seemed to meet the natural

rights through an agreement of climate change in

Paris in 2015. However both countries gave capitals

to build PLTUs and the construction was one of the

causes of climate change. Referring to the idea of

Politics of nature, Bruno Latour explains that science

makes a concept which separates nature and human.

The difference of the concept creates unbalanced

power. Knowledge has a power that allows human to

do political practice. The political practice tends to

damage nature that provides natural resources,

including energy. Humans use their ability to dig

natural resources which are able to generate

electricity. But by using this ability, humans keep

exploring nature and ignore the impacts (Block and

Jensen, 2011:79).

The intervention of foreign investors in

construction PLTUs in Indonesia shows that there is

a political practice in the aspect of energy which tends

to damage nature or environment. Both investors and

government simultaneously try to control the nature

which is able to generate electricity by using the

developmental practice oriented to capital

accumulation and they ignore the rights of nature as

habitation of human. What has been wanted by Latour

is to remove the limitation between nature and human

which is separated by knowledge. This is because

ACIR 2018 - Airlangga Conference on International Relations

104

both nature and human are able to play their own roles

as political actors. Nature and human can work

together to solve the problems. Both of them have the

same rights, which can be fulfilled in democracy

system.

What have been the questions until now are: Is the

PLTU really appropriate and needed by the people of

Indonesia? Or does this project make the nature as a

commodity for the interest of capitalists? We never

know whether Indonesia deliberately turns a blind eye

to the huge losses that will be experienced by the

construction of PLTUs. A series of interests and

environmental damages-including climate change

and premature death threat behind the construction of

PLTUs-emphasize that the project is not in line with

the objectives of Indonesia which have been

established in the preamble of the 1945 Constitution

of Republic of Indonesia which includes: (1) protect

the whole people of Indonesia and the entire

homeland of Indonesia, (2) advance general

prosperity and develop the nation's intellectual life,

(3) contribute to the implementation of a world order

based on freedom, lasting peace and social justice

(Dipoyudo, 1985:7).

5 CONCLUSION

Referring to the construction of PLTUs in Indonesia,

one of the things needed in constructing PLTUs is

ecological justice. Nicholas Low and Brendan

Gleeson try to give an idea on the importance of

ecological justice in the practice of ecological

politics, which is usually performed in development.

The practice of ecological politics should distribute

power to environment for all living creatures (Low

and Gleeson, 2002:22). This idea is a critic for human

to concern to the sustainability of other living

creatures and also to make human not too dominant

in controlling the nature. The impacts of PLTU

explained by Research Team of Harvard University

are the examples of human domination in controlling

the nature or environment. The construction of

PLTUs can be seen as ecological injustice, in which

the nature is not seen as an object which needs to be

prioritised to be kept.

On the other hand, the construction of PLTUs

refers to what is stated by Giddens about the

modernity juggernaut which sees that the project is

the form of capitalism and industrialism as a machine

to exploit Indonesian natural resources, with global

scale (Giddens. 2009). The negative consequences

from the project are the causes of humans less

awareness about the risks that will come in the future.

PLTU is the impact of developed countries’ political

practice to get economical profit. Indonesia is the

opportunity, the place where capital is not considered

to have national bond so that it is free to be invested

because political rhetoric of globalization only

prioritizes economical profit (Hirst and Thomson,

2001:266). It also reflects that the orientation of

development in Indonesia leads to economic growth,

it does not perform justice development based on the

needs of society. Based on the orientation of the

development, referring to Sen’s idea that

implementation of Indonesian development has not

been realised the entitlement or given the basic

human rights (citizens). The implementation of PLTU

shows that the orientation of development of welfare

by the government is under the influence of Neo-

liberalism, which forms human as human capital. The

instruments of the construction of PLTUs do not refer

to the effort of human capability development which

includes life expectancy, health and education in

society (Sen, 1999:49). Referring to Sen’s idea, it

emphasizes that the development does not give

freedom for the society to respond the opportunity

and fulfil their will, otherwise it conquers the society

by giving them new and complicated problems.

REFERENCES

Block and Jensen. (2011). Bruno Latour Hybrid Thoughts

In A Hybrid World. New York: Routledge.

BUMN. (2011). Tentang Perusahaan. (online).

bumn.go.id.(accessed on December 2017).

BUMN. (2011). 35000 MW. (online).

bumn.go.id.(accessed on Desember 2017).

Cahyadi, dkk. (2015). PLTU Batu Bara Superkritikal yang

Efisien. Tangerang Selatan: Balai Besar Teknologi

Energi (B2TE).

Citraningrum, Marlistya. (2017). Pojok Energi #4:

Menerangi dari Desa. (online). iesr.or.id. (accessed on

May 2018).

Dipoyuda, Kirdi. (1985). Keadilan Sosial. Jakarta: CV

Rajawali.

Embu, Wilfridus, Setu. (2018). Sebanyak 30 Persen

Wilayah NTT Belum Tersentuh Listrik. (online).

merdeka.com. (accessed on May 2018).

Giddens, Anthony. (2009). The Politics of Climate Change.

Cambridge: Polity.

Fachlevi, T. A., Putri, K. I. E., & Simanjuntak Sahat M H.

(2015). Dampak dan Evaluasi Kebijakan Pertambangan

Batubara di Kecamatan Mereubo. Risalah Kebijakan

Pertanian Dan Lingkungan, 2(2), 171–180.

https://doi.org/10.20957/jkebijakan.v2i2.10989

Greenpeace Indonesia. (2015). Ringkasan ANCAMAN

MAUT PLTU BATUBARA. Retrieved from

Steam Electricity Power Plant (PLTU): The Politics of Energy in Indonesia

105

http://m.greenpeace.org/seasia/id/PageFiles/695938/la

poran-ringkas-ancaman-maut-pltu-batubara.pdf

Harahap, N. (2014). PENELITIAN KEPUSTAKAAN.

Jurnal Iqra’, 08(01), 68–74.

Koplitz, S. N., Jacob, D. J., Sulprizio, M. P., & Reid, C.

(2017). COAL: a public health crisis in Myanmar.

Hirst dan Thomson. (2001). Globalisasi Adalah Mitos.

Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia.

Low and Gleeson. (2002). Justice, Society and Nature: An

exploration of political ecology. New York: Routledge.

Sarup, (2003). Post-Strukturalism and Postmodernism.

Yogyakarta: Jendela.

Sen, Amartya. (1999). Development as Freedom. New

York: Anchor Books.

Wardani, Asih, Kirana. (2017). Ada Udang di Balik Utang

Proyek PLTU dari Energi Kotor. (online). tirto.id.

(accessed on December 2017).

ACIR 2018 - Airlangga Conference on International Relations

106