Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Indonesia has a dream to become the king of the world’s batteries. This aspiration was marked by the establishment of a State-Owned Enterprise Holding (BUMN) integrated battery industry from upstream to downstream called Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC).
RI’s great aspiration has turned out to be a threat to nickel consumers in the world.
This was revealed by Steven Brown, a nickel industry practitioner, in an online discussion, Tuesday (29/06/2021).
Steven explained, to be able to make the energy transition, an additional 1 million tons of nickel metal is needed by 2030.
“To be successful in the energy transition, we need approximately 1 million additional tons of nickel, before 2030 we need an additional 1 million tons of capacity,” he said.
According to him, nickel production has continued to increase in recent years, in line with demand growth. As a result, until now there is no shortage of nickel supply.
“There is no shortage of nickel at this time, in fact there is still a surplus, a slight excess of production from demand,” he said.
The addition of nickel production, he added, only occurred in Indonesia. Meanwhile, production abroad has actually decreased. This condition is a good thing for Indonesia, but a threat to the outside.
“But growth in nickel only occurs in Indonesia, outside it is even lower, and this is good for Indonesia, but for nickel users outside, this is a threat,” he said.
According to him, the increase in production occurred for second-class nickel such as ferronickel and nickel pig iron (NPI), while there was no growth for first-class nickel. Nickel used for batteries is first-class nickel such as nickel sulfate, while second-class nickel is for stainless steel.
“The growth that has occurred has not yet existed for first-class smelters used for batteries,” he added.
He said several first-class nickel smelter projects for batteries have been announced and all of them are in Indonesia. It is estimated that two-thirds will be in Indonesia and built first.
“Several projects inannounced, almost all of them are in Indonesia. Project pipeline maybe two-thirds are in Indonesia, which will be built first in Indonesia, the non-Indonesian ones are still far from the construction stage,” he explained.
He further said that the projects announced in Indonesia were much better due to lower capital costs and shorter construction schedules.
“But there is a slight issue, is environmental and social government. When viewed from existing standards, Indonesia has a higher risk of environmental and social government than projects outside Indonesia,” he explained.
(wia)
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