Palembang, September 16, 2025 – South Sumatra (Sumsel) has long been known as one of Indonesia’s energy hubs. Its natural resources, including coal, oil, and natural gas, make the province a key contributor to the national energy supply. However, amid the growing climate crisis, reliance on fossil fuels can no longer be a long-term strategy. The world is now moving toward an energy transition, and Sumsel has a significant opportunity to become a pioneer in the shift toward renewable energy.
Eva Novianty, Head of the Sub-Directorate of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Directorate of Local Government Affairs Synchronization I, Bina Bangda, Ministry of Home Affairs, stated that South Sumatra Province has great renewable energy potential, estimated at 21,032 megawatts. Unfortunately, only about 4–5% of this total potential has been utilized. This highlights two important points: South Sumatra has a comparative advantage to become a hub for renewable energy, and there is a significant amount of work to be done to convert this potential into actual installed capacity.
“Energy transition is not only about replacing energy sources, but also involves systemic changes, ranging from regulations, investment models, institutional capacity, to patterns of community involvement. To carry out energy transition, local governments play an important role, especially in spatial planning, encouraging local investments such as rooftop solar power plants, micro-hydro, biomass, and geothermal energy, as well as cross-sector collaboration,“ said Eva in a Focus Group Discussion entitled ”Results of the Identification of Renewable Energy Development Locations and Development Strategies in South Sumatra,” organized by IESR on Tuesday (16/9).
Hari Wibawa, Head of the Economy and Development Funding Division at the South Sumatra Provincial Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), explained that development planning documents, both at the national and regional levels, have established economic transformation as a major theme. One of the main pillars of this transformation is a just energy transition.
“Over the next 20 years, South Sumatra is targeted to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. To achieve this, strategic steps are needed in the form of remapping the roles of regions that have been dependent on coal mining, one of which is Muara Enim Regency,” said Hari.
According to Hari, the purpose of this re-mapping is to guide these regions towards transforming into renewable energy development. In this way, South Sumatra can gradually move towards achieving its net zero emission (NZE) target in the future.
Sodi Zakiy Muwafiq, Geographic Information System (GIS) Analyst at IESR, said that South Sumatra has abundant renewable energy potential, but its utilization is still far from optimal. Based on an IESR study, this province has a technical potential of 441.15 GWp of solar power, 286.7 MW of hydroelectric power, 131.6 MW of wind power, and up to 5,003 MW of biomass power.
“A number of obstacles still loom over the development of renewable energy in South Sumatra. In terms of infrastructure, the existing electricity grid is not yet adequate for the integration of renewable energy, especially in remote areas,” said Sodi.
Sodi further stated that in terms of policy, synchronization between the central and regional governments is still weak, causing uncertainty among investors. Access to financing is also limited because regulatory risks are considered high, coupled with fiscal incentives and subsidies that are not yet attractive.
“The utilization of renewable energy potential is not yet evenly distributed. Bioenergy dominates, while solar, wind, and small-scale hydro energy are still far from their maximum potential. Some potential locations are also located in forest or conservation areas, which are prone to environmental conflicts. In addition, the limited availability of local human resources (HR) is a challenge. The number of experts for project planning and maintenance is still limited, and community participation in renewable energy is relatively low,” explained Sodi.
To accelerate the development of clean energy, Sodi said that several strategic steps need to be taken, such as accommodating the use of land for renewable energy in regional spatial plans (RT/RW), streamlining the land acquisition process through integrated licensing and digital databases, and prioritizing project locations with high rates of return on investment.
