Japanese engineering firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has signed an agreement with Indonesia's PLN Nusantara Power to jointly study the co-firing of cleaner fuels at Nusantara's power plants.
MHI and PLN Nusantara Power, a subsidiary of Indonesian state-owned power firm PLN, will jointly conduct technical feasibility studies on the co-firing of less carbon-intensive fuels, including hydrogen and ammonia. MHI announced the agreement on 23 March, stating that the signing of the agreement took place at the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Public-Private Investment Forum held on 3 March in Tokyo.
The firms will investigate co-firing hydrogen and ammonia for a gas turbine and a gas-fired boiler, respectively, at oil and gas-fired Muara Karang power plant in northern Jakarta. They will also study biomass co-firing at the coal-fired Paiton power plant in the eastern Java province.
MHI and PLN Nusantara Power did not disclose the targeted amount of hydrogen, ammonia, and biomass for co-firing but installed capacity of Muara Karang and Paiton generation units were at 909MW and 800MW, respectively, according to a report by Nusantara in 2020.
The project aims to accelerate Indonesia's decarbonisation drive, according to MHI.
AZEC is a decarbonisation initiative proposed by the Japanese government to accelerate energy transition in Asia-Pacific countries and achieve the UN's Paris climate agreement goals.
MHI in November 2022 signed a similar agreement with Indonesia Power, another PLN subsidiary firm, to conduct a co-firing study.
By Yusuke Maekawa
