Reducing mercury emissions from the coal combustion sector in Indonesia

Indonesia ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury in September 2017 and must now take action to comply with the aims of the Convention. For the coal sector, this means producing an inventory of mercury emissions which must be maintained in order to evaluate the progress of the sector towards achieving emission reduction goals. In addition, stakeholders must evaluate mercury emissions from the coal combustion sector to determine the most cost-effective and appropriate means to reduce mercury.
This report covers Phase 1 of the project which assists the Indonesian government in the development of a national inventory of emissions from the coal utility sector. A dataset of all coal-fired units in Indonesia has been created and plant specific data used to estimate mercury releases from each coal-fired utility unit on a g/GWh basis. Estimates for total mercury emissions for each unit both annually and over the remaining operational lifetime of the plant were calculated. Plants were then ranked according to their mercury emissions and the potential for significant mercury reduction.
Three top-ranking plants were selected for further investigation, to take place in Phase 2 of the project.