An aerial view of the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), including captive coal plants and nickel smelting operations. Image courtesy of Muhammad Fadli for CRI.
As much of the world shutters coal power plants and shelves new proposals, Indonesia is bucking the trend — adding the third-highest volume of coal capacity globally in 2024, driven largely by the need to power a growing fleet of metal smelters.
This places Indonesia among a shrinking group of nations still expanding their coal use, according to a new report by U.S.-based nonprofit Global Energy Monitor (GEM).
The annual “Boom and Bust Coal” report found that global coal-fired power plant capacity growth reached its lowest point in 20 years last year, increasing by just 44 gigawatts, compared to an annual average of 72 GW between 2004 and 2024.
Yet Indonesia added 1.9 GW of coal capacity in 2024, the third most in the world, behind China and India. Some 80% of this new capacity came from so-called captive coal plants, built specifically to serve industrial estates processing nickel, cobalt and aluminum for the booming electric vehicle market.
Indonesia is the only country in Southeast Asia that proposed new coal plants in 2024, according to the report.
