Jakarta, 11 October 2021– The energy crisis in Europe is a lesson for many countries, especially Indonesia to maintain their energy security by reducing dependence on the fossil energy market, preparing prudently for the energy transition, and diversifying energy, especially for renewable energy. 

William Derbyshire, Director, Economic Consulting Associates (ECA) UK explained that the UK’s dependence on fossil energy is reflected in its power generation mix which places a share of gas as much as 42%, while for renewable energy it is only dominated by Wind Power Plants (PLTB) with a share of 16 %.

“If high fossil fuel prices are the problem, the answer is to reduce dependency on coal and gas, rather than to add more fossil fuel,” explained William in the online webinar “Energy Crisis in UK and Europe: Lesson learned for Indonesia Energy’s Transition” ( 11/10/2021) organized by Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy for Southeast Asia (CASE).

So far, wind power has become the UK’s backbone for generating electricity from renewable energy plants. However, this wind power has high variability even though it can be projected from historical records of wind patterns and speeds at a certain point. But according to Gareth Davies, Managing Director, Aquatera, this variability can be overcome if we can identify new areas with high wind speeds and build new plants there.

“By spreading (wind power) production across the wide geographical area we can help to increase resilience and reduce the dependency and reliance on other sources. So this effectively becomes a balancing mechanism for our energy supply,” said Gareth.

The Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Fabby Tumiwa, emphasized that the volatility in primary energy prices, such as fossil energy, is a common thread of the widespread fossil energy crisis.

“It should be remembered that the current energy crisis is a fossil energy crisis. The volatility of fossil energy prices is very high. The increase in the price of each fossil energy affects each other,” said Fabby.***

The event of  Energy Crisis in UK and Europe: Lesson learned for Indonesia Energy’s Transition could be accessed on YouTube IESR  https://youtu.be/YnRd_GIy0eE.