Industrial parks at three of Indonesia’s nickel hotspots – Obi Island, Morowali and Weda Bay – aim to have 14 coal power plants with 71 turbines, totalling 12,579 MW, according to GEM data. That’s more than double the 6,109 MW of captive power the nation’s nickel industry already has in operation.
Tsingshan, which runs the park, pledged a year ago to develop 2 GW of wind and solar power for its smelting operations, and said it would follow Xi Jinping’s policy not to build coal power abroad. But it has several projects in the pipeline that were sealed before the announcement. Just Finance International, a research body in the Netherlands, noted that one month before the pledge, Tsingshan secured a contract for the construction of 1,140 MW at Morowali’s Labota coal plant. Tsingshan has also begun developing a similar park, Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), where there are plans to install 3,400 MW of coal power.
Read the article in full: China Dialogue
