The Indonesian government said that it had asked domestic coal producers to set aside 30% of their output next year to meet demand from new coal-fired power plants. According to The Jakarta Globe, Energy Minister of Indonesia, Darwin Saleh, said, “The government needs a guaranteed coal supply to support the 10,000 mw fast track program. Therefore, all coal producers should allocate 30% of their production to the domestic market.” He also said that domestic demand for coal in 2010 had been estimated at 65 million metric tons (mt), of which 85% would be needed for power plants. He said the quota for domestic producers would be updated every year. Bambang Setiawan, director general of coal, minerals
and geothermal energy at the ministry, said that the government would limit coal exports to 150 million mt next year. The energy ministry has forecasts that the country would produce about 230 million mt of coal this year. Output totaled 172 million mt as of the end of August 2009. About 20% or 34.7 million mt had gone to the domestic market.
