Jakarta, 3 July 2024 – 2024 is a planning year for the Indonesian Government. After holding the general election last February, a number of preparations were made to ensure the leadership transition went smoothly. In addition, several energy policy instruments have undergone changes and are in the process of being updated.
To meet the target of the Paris Agreement, namely limiting the rise in earth’s temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, Indonesia must reduce emissions resulting from various sectors such as energy, transportation, industry, and forests and land use.
Energy and Electricity Resources Research Coordinator, Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), His Muhammad Bintang, in a media briefing forum (3/7/2024) said that currently only the electricity sector under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has a measurable target for reducing its emissions, summarized in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) agreement.
“For sectors other than electricity, such as transportation and industry, the emissions produced are still increasing and there is no roadmap or measurable emission reduction target,” he said.
Bintang said that currently there are major updates to several policy instruments in Indonesia, including MEMR Regulation No. 2/2024 concerning Rooftop PV, which regulates the rooftop PV quota system, and will come into effect on July 1, 2024.
The National Energy Council is also currently finalizing the revision of the National Energy Policy (KEN), and it is hoped that it will be completed before the transition of government. This document update was carried out to update the calculation assumptions for various Indonesian energy scenarios because the assumptions in the former document are no longer relevant to the current situation.
Industry, especially global industry, has an initiative to encourage the use of renewable energy through the RE100 group. Several Indonesian companies are also members of this group. However, Indonesia falls upon the strangler category, which means that electrification in Indonesia is still very dependent on fossil energy, and access to renewable energy is still limited.
Director of Energy Conservation, Directorate General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE), Hendra Iswahyudi, stated that one of the challenges that is an obstacle to the development of renewable energy in Indonesia is funding.
“(Yet) With all the existing obstacles, the government is committed to monitoring the new renewable energy target so that it is achieved on time,” said Hendra.
