By Rabul Sawal
INDRAMAYU, Indonesia — A veil of smog lurks over Surono and Umroh’s home as relatives and neighbors file inside to greet the couple. Umroh welcomes the new arrivals over lunch as family members and friends congratulate the beaming pair on the birth of their second child.
Outside in Tegal Taman village, here on the northern coast of Java Island’s Indramayu district, a thin coat of soot has settled on the roof of the family home.
“Having dust like this is just normal, it’s been there for a long time ever since the PLTU started up,” Surono told Mongabay Indonesia.
PLTU 1 Indramayu is a coal power complex that began operating in 2011. Run by PJB, a subsidiary of state-owned electricity utility PLN, the plant’s three units supply 990 megawatts to the Java-Bali grid owned by PLN.
The plant’s smokestack is a local landmark, surrounded by rice fields, less than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) east of Surono and Umroh’s home.
In the more than a decade since the power plant began operating, farmers have complained of declining rice yields, fishers say their catch has dwindled, and parents believe their children are increasingly falling prey to respiratory infections.
Dust-up
Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of coal, and the national grid relies on domestic supplies to generate two-thirds of the archipelago’s electricity.
However, President Joko Widodo has committed in a submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to cutting Indonesia’s planet-warming emissions from a base scenario by 31.9% before 2030.
Most of these planned emissions reductions will be borne by changes in the land-use sector, such as restrictions on developing carbon-rich peatlands. However, a large share of Indonesia’s international commitments relies on a transition to renewable energy.
Local farmer Dulmuin, together with members of the Indramayu Coal Smoke-free Network (Jatayu), a grassroots civil society organization, has protested the PLTU 1 plant on several occasions since 2015. He said things got worse after the plant implemented what’s known in the industry as co-firing — replacing some of the coal it burns with organic matter that’s considered “cleaner.”
“After using biomass, the dust got even thicker,” said Dulmuin, who comes from nearby Mekarsari village.
The group has contested environmental permits connected with PLTU 2 Indramayu, a planned 1,000-MW extension, which was canceled after the project’s Japanese lenders withdrew support for its construction.
Three days after the Mekarsari farmers held a demonstration against the PLTU 2 extension in December 2017, armed police in plainclothes kicked in the doors of homes in Mekarsari in the middle of the night, hauling three farmers to jail.
Farmers and farm workers who are members of the Indramayu Coal Smoke-free Network (Jatayu) have protested many times since 2015. Image by Rabul Sawal/Mongabay Indonesia.
Coals to Newcastle
Around early 2020, PLN began work on plans to trim emissions from its coal-fired power fleet by adding biomass to the coal burned in the boiler.
“The planners are betting that they can slowly increase biomass power generation by cofiring, a strategy that would potentially extend the life of older and under-utilized coal units while at the same time claiming credit for increasing the renewable energy mix,” Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) analyst Putra Adhiguna wrote in a 2021 paper.
PLN recently reported it had consumed 1 million metric tons of biomass across 43 coal units during 2023, a 71% year-on-year increase. It doesn’t specify the type of biomass used, but in Indonesia the material depends on location and includes sawdust and household waste.
Trend Asia, a Jakarta-based civil society organization, conducted research on the biomass supply chain to the Indramayu coal plant. The researchers found sawdust was procured from the surrounding districts of Cirebon, Kuningan and Subang, in addition to sources around Indramayu district.
Andhanto K.M., a spokesperson for plant operator PJB, played down the implications of data on respiratory problems contained in a public health report for period April-September 2022.
“The impact on public health does not show a critical level,” Andhanto wrote in text message.
The impact of biomass emissions on surrounding populations is poorly understood in Indonesia owing to the novelty of the biomass industry. A study conducted in Thailand on two small power facilities burning rice husks determined that local people reported greater incidences of ill health than those living further away.
“People living near the biomass power plants had clearly elevated and consistent respiratory diseases and health symptoms,” concluded Chudchawal Juntarawijit at Naresuan University in northern Thailand.
The research published in 2018 in the International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, found a prevalence of 20.7–31.6 cases of ill health per 100 people out of the affected population.
Residents’ rice fields close to PLTU I in Indramayu are in an unhealthy condition. Some rice crops are yellow and dry much before harvest. Image by Rabul Sawal/Mongabay Indonesia.
Analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a nonprofit founded in Finland, concluded that biomass co-firing may worsen air quality due to the release of ammonia. Research by CREA and the Jakarta-based Institute for Essential Services Reform found levels of air pollution in West Java, where Indramayu is located, were sufficiently high to cut average lifespans in Indonesia’s most populous province.
The researchers found air pollution would account for 10,500 premature deaths and an economic cost of $7.4 billion.
There’s no conclusive evidence of a link between respiratory disease and co-firing with biomass in West Java. However, anecdotal testimony by people living in the shadow of Indramayu’s coal plants indicates pervasive anxiety about these health risks.
Recently, a 1-year-old was rushed to a health facility after experiencing breathing difficulties. The toddler was successfully treated, but the family feared PLTU 1 was to blame.
UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, estimates that around 19,000 Indonesian children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of preventable pneumonia, a respiratory infection.
In the middle of the day when the wind kicks up, the air outside Surono’s home improves. But in the late afternoon Surono likens the smoke produced by the coal plant to a diesel engine burning too much oil, an old bus as it crawls up a steep hill coughing acrid smoke over everyone.
“Recently, the dust has become dirtier,” Surono said.
Banner image: The PLTU 1 Indramayu, which previously used entirely coal, has now mixed it with biomass. The government’s label that it’s an ‘energy transition’ effort does not solve the environmental problems experienced by residents. In fact, residents felt the smoke plume getting thicker and affecting them. Image by Rabul Sawal/Mongabay Indonesia.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and first published here on our Indonesian site on Jan. 30, 2024.
This article was originally published on Mongabay
