Coal is very important in Indonesia's economy as it contributes around 5% of the country’s GDP and 12% of all export income. The reason Indonesia mines coal and not any other natural resources is due to the significantly high natural reserves compared to other fossil fuels. The market for coal is not very steady as it all depends on China, India and the global market conditions as they are the main buyers of the coal. The Indonesian coal is also very high in calorific value, that meaning energy value, making it much more valuable to China and India which both have lower grade coals. The government, due to the large natural coal reserves, set a policy to increase the use of coal for generating electricity. Coal in Indonesia is set to contribute 30% of the total national primary energy mix by 2025. The government is not only using coal to generate electricity, they will also try to substitute oil, used for cooking and transport, with coal.
Coal exports is having a decline in demand which is a terrible thing if it comes to the economy of Indonesia and it is not looking like the prices will return back as China’s aggressive efforts in reducing coal consumption means the price will not likely recover. The impact it has on Indonesia is not only in the economic side but its also on the physical side as the power plants in suralaya is being expanded to increase electric power, though the expansion also caused debt and environmentalist questioned the need for new powerplants, especially on java, where electricity supply significantly exceeds demand. The push for new powerplants comes in part from President Joko Widodo, who announced an ambitious plan when he took power in 2014 to increase the installed capacity of Java-Bali grid to 35 gigawatts. In Indonesia coal is located quite close to the surface so mining it is not a hassle. The way coal is turned into electricity is the tricky part. Coal is first pulverized in a coal combustion system. The coal will turn into a powdery substance which is then blown into a combustion chamber of a boiler where it is burnt at a high temperature. The hot gasses and heat energy produced converts to water then the water turns into steam. The steam, since at a high pressure, is passed into a turbine containing thousands of propeller like blades with a generator mounted at one end of the turbine shaft and consists of carefully wired coils. Electricity is generated from when those blades spin rapidly creating a strong magnetic field and after passing through the turbine, the steam is condensed and returned to the boiler to be heated once again. The electricity is then distributed.
Burning coal emits a large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The emissions have been shown to increase the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and lead to global warming. The smokestacks in generating electricity from coal is a lot as in suralaya the government is expanding the electric generators. The residents there are used to the large fumes of smoked produced from the factory. The fumes in the area got so bad to the point that fishermen could not go fish anymore due to polluted waters.
Bibliography
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