The vice presidential candidate debate on Sunday (21/01) was considered to only be a place to show off jargon without really touching the substance – particularly on energy issues. The event was also considered to lack in-depth discussion about the development of new and renewable energy (EBT) in the midst of big targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce global warming, according to environmental activists and energy analysts.
Read more on BBC Indonesia.
Jakarta, January 23, 2024 – The second vice presidential candidate debate, on Sunday (21/1/2024), raised the issue of sustainable development, natural resources, environment, energy, food, agriculture, indigenous peoples, and villages, drawing public attention. Various attack games and mutual insinuations marred the debate.
The Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) and panelist of the second vice presidential debate, Fabby Tumiwa, assessed that the fourth debate of the 2024 Presidential Election (Pilpres) had not prioritized content primarily related to the energy transition. This makes several vital issues related to the economy and the environment far from serious discussion.
“In my opinion, many candidates did not understand the panelists’ questions that the moderator read out. They did not seem to respond to the questions appropriately, and during the question and answer session, the vice president seemed to give insubstantial questions. Thus, I see that the three vice presidential candidates have not debated (debate ideas-ed), “said Fabby Tumiwa in the Kompas TV Special Report program on Tuesday (23/1/2024).
Fabby stated that the hot debate between the vice presidential candidates at the Jakarta Convention Center had also yet to discuss essential issues. This cannot be separated from the discussion format, which does not support exploring ideas effectively enough.
Vice Presidential Statement on Debate
The three vice presidential candidates in the second debate had similar views on the transition to green energy. Muhaimin Iskandar, the first Vice Presidential candidate, assesses that the current government’s commitment is not serious in carrying out the energy transition, as shown by the reduction in the target of new renewable energy (NRE) and the delay in carbon tax. For this reason, Muhaimin is committed to accelerating the carbon tax implementation while carrying out the NRE transition.
Vice Presidential candidate number 2, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, said that an equitable low-carbon development policy must stop dependence on fossil energy.
On the other hand, the third Vice Presidential candidate, Mahfud MD, only addressed the issue of resolving natural resources and energy, emphasizing the need for a thorough resolution from upstream to downstream
To find out the facts behind the statements of the three vice presidential candidates at the debate, IESR has held a Live Fact Check of the Vice Presidential Debate via Twitter, which can be accessed on IESR Twitter.
Deon Arinaldo, Manager of the Transformation Energy Program, IESR responds to the issue of renewable energy presented in the vice presidential candidate’s vision and mission.
Read more on Kompas.com.
Jakarta, January 23, 2024 – The Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), through the Energy Transition Academy in collaboration with the West Java Energy and Mineral Resources Agency (ESDM) and the Society of Renewable Energy University of Indonesia (SRE UI) has been held The West Java Energy Exploration on January 23-26, 2024. The initiative is to support and promote the implementation of renewable energy in West Java Province to become an example for other regions in Indonesia.
West Java Province was selected as the location for The Energy Exploration (Jelajah Energi) because it has abundant potential for renewable energy sources that can be utilized effectively and sustainably to achieve the net zero emission target by 2060 or earlier. Furthermore, the renewable energy mix in West Java has already reached 25.81% as of 2023, which exceeds the target of 20% set in the Regional Energy General Plan (RUED) for 2025.
Head of the Energy and Mineral Resources Agency (ESDM) of West Java Province, Ai Saadiyah Dwidaningsih, said that the province has renewable energy potential consisting of solar, biomass, geothermal, water, and wind energy of around 192 GW. Despite achieving a high renewable energy mix in 2023, only about 2% of the potential (around 3.41 GW) has been utilized.
“There are several challenges to the implementation of the energy transition in West Java, including the limited authority of energy affairs in the regions, both provincial and district/city, the oversupply condition of the Java Madura Bali power plant, as well as the concept of renewable energy and energy conservation, is also not widely recognized by the public,” said Ai Saadiyah Dwidaningsih in her remarks at The West Java Energy Exploration.
Reflecting on these challenges, Ai Saadiyah Dwidaningsih emphasized the importance of cross-sector collaboration in efforts to campaign for energy transition. For this reason, West Java Province has established a Regional Energy Forum. This forum is a forum to discuss strategic issues in the field of energy resources from various perspectives to provide input for policies by the Regional Energy General Plan (RUED) and national energy policies.
“We continue to encourage cross-sector collaboration to echo the energy transition. We see that the energy transition is important because the condition of our earth has entered the era of global boiling, no longer global warming. Without taking concrete steps to reduce emissions, the situation will only deteriorate further,” said Ai Saadiyah Dwidaningsih.
Deon Arinaldo, Energy Transformation Program Manager, IESR, explained that the West Java Energy Exploration is expected to increase public understanding of the benefits and potential of renewable energy. He believes that a wider audience can be reached by visiting areas that utilize renewable energy and sharing stories of successful initiatives from the community, industry, and government. This approach will inspire and encourage independent initiatives from various actors, including the general public, to promote sustainable energy transformation in Indonesia.
“Renewable energy is accessible to everyone and should be utilized. Therefore, we encourage all parties to collaborate in the energy transition. This collaboration should begin with understanding renewable energy and its benefits for the environment and economy. With this knowledge, it is hoped that the community can fully support the implementation of clean energy-based solutions,” said Deon Arinaldo.
Deon mentioned that to increase public knowledge, IESR has provided an energy transition learning platform called the Energy Transition Academy that can be accessed openly by the public.
“Various easily digestible energy transition classes are available at the Energy Transition Academy. Even in the future, there may be various stories of good practices in using renewable energy, including the experience of the West Java Energy Exploration, documented there,” added Deon.
The West Java Energy Exploration team plans to visit nine strategic locations to see the positive impact of utilizing renewable energy. The destinations include PLTSa TPST Bantar Gebang, Cirata Floating Solar PV, Cirata Hydroelectric Power Plant, Gunung Halu MicroHydro, Cofiring and Solar PV PT Kahatex Majalaya, Surya Energi Indonesia, Geothermal Power Plants Kamojang, Biogas & Solar PV Producer Cooperative Karya Nugraha Jaya, and Cirebon Mangrove Ecotourism.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) announced that investment in renewable energy had only reached US$ 1.5 billion or did not reach the 2023 target of US$ 1.8 billion.
Read more on Kontan.
Bidding-Evaluation-Result-CFOP-Cirebon
As a national agenda, the energy transition is one of the efforts to maintain energy security and realize a green economy in the country. The energy transition also shows Indonesia’s commitment to expanding access to affordable and clean technology to encourage sustainable and greener economic recovery.
Read more on Tirto.
Vice presidential candidates are asked to avoid false solutions in the energy transition in Indonesia in the vice presidential debate at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, Jakarta (21/1). In the fourth debate, the vice presidential candidates will raise the themes of Sustainable Development, Natural Resources, Environment, Energy, Food, Agrarian, Indigenous Peoples and Villages.
Read more on Kata Data.
Jakarta, January 15, 2024 – The realization of new renewable energy in 2023 was only 13.1% of the target of 17.9% to reach 23% by 2025. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Arifin Tasrif, when presenting the Achievements of the Energy and Mineral Resources Sector in 2023 & Work Program in 2024 put forward eight strategies, including the construction of 10.6 GW of new renewable energy plants, the construction of 3.6 GW of rooftop solar power plants, the implementation of the 13.9 million kL B35 program, and biomass co-firing of 10.2 million tons in 2025 to achieve the target.
The Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) views the progress made in renewable energy by 2023 starkly contrasting the ongoing increase in fossil fuel production and usage. This trend goes against the essence of the energy transition towards net-zero emissions that the government has been advocating since 2021.
IESR assesses that the low achievement of the renewable energy target mix is systemic, caused by various factors, including the delay in the auction of renewable energy plants by PLN since 2019, constraints on the execution of projects that have been contracted due to bankability, the increase in financial interest rates in the last two years, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some renewable energy projects, especially hydropower and geothermal power plants that are the mainstay of the government, such as Batang Toru Hydropower Plant, Baturaden Geothermal Power Plant, and Rajabasa Geothermal Power Plant, which have been delayed in completion, are suspected of contributing to the low achievement of the renewable energy mix in 2023. Likewise, the protracted process of revising Permen of ESDM No. 26/2021 has hampered the implementation of rooftop solar power plants. Therefore, the 3.6 GW rooftop solar power plant PSN needs to be fixed.
The government plans to pursue the development of large-scale renewable energy plants, including floating solar power plants and wind farms. A rooftop PV roadmap has also been prepared with a target of 900 MW in 2023 and 1800 MW in 2024. However, according to Fabby, the unfinished rooftop PV regulation has caused rooftop PV adoption to drop in the residential and business sectors by 20% and 6%, respectively. As a result, based on IESR’s analysis, by the second quarter of 2023, the cumulative installed capacity of rooftop PV only reached 100 MW, far below the target of 900 MW by 2023.
“The government still has two years to pursue the 23 percent renewable energy mix target, but political commitment, PLN support, and extraordinary steps must be needed. There are several ways, including accelerating the execution of projects that have been contracted, especially from Independent Power Producers (IPP). In addition, the government should urge PLN to conduct regular auctions of large-scale power plants this year and simplify the negotiation of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to execute these projects this year. To pursue the target of 10.6 GW in two years, the government must rely on floating, ground-mounted, and 3.6 GW of rooftop solar PV installed capacity. Therefore, the implementation of the revised Permen No. 26/2021 should no longer be delayed,” explained the Executive Director of IESR, Fabby Tumiwa.
Regarding renewable energy investment, from a target of USD 1.8 billion, only USD 1.5 billion was achieved. Meanwhile, in 2024, the government targets USD 2.6 billion. This amount is still far from the need for renewable energy funding of USD 25 billion annually until 2030 to achieve NZE by 2060. To accelerate renewable energy investment growth, the government needs to help prepare renewable energy projects that can be implemented and are feasible to finance.
Fabby suspects that structural problems have caused the renewable energy investment target never to be achieved during the era of President Jokowi’s administration. In contrast, in the world, renewable energy investment has increased and surpassed fossil energy investment in the last five years. For this reason, Fabby proposes a severe evaluation of this issue so that the government can quickly improve the enabling environment for enhancing the renewable energy investment climate, one of which is a review of coal subsidies through the DMO scheme and domestic coal pricing obligations for coal-fired power plant’s (CFPPs) of National Electricity Company (PLN).
Accelerated renewable energy development is necessary to achieve the high mix target in 2030, as stated by the JETP target, and to support Indonesia’s low-carbon development. Contrary to popular belief, renewable energy electricity prices are much cheaper and competitive with fossil fuels.
“From this MEMR achievement report, the minister of energy and mineral resources has acknowledged that renewable energy costs and integration costs for solar and wind power plants can already be competitive with new power plants. There should be no more hesitation in supporting the acceleration of renewable energy. It is necessary to pay attention to gaps and delays in renewable energy development from upstream to downstream and try to build a strategy. This includes the identification and development of early renewable energy project candidates, the process of entering candidates into PLN’s planning, how the renewable energy procurement process in PLN, as well as a clear risk allocation between PLN and IPP for renewable energy developed by the private sector,” said Deon Arinaldo, Program Manager of Energy Transformation, IESR.
In contrast to the low achievement of the renewable energy mix, the MEMR said there was a reduction in GHG emissions in the energy sector in 2023 of 127.67 million tons of carbon dioxide from the target of 116 million tons.
“The achievement of energy sector emission reduction exceeding the target should be appreciated. However, it should also be noted that the energy sector emission reduction target is based on Indonesia’s enhanced NDC target, which, unfortunately, is not yet compatible with the 1.5 C pathway according to the Paris Agreement. The government needs to explore new strategies involving other energy sectors such as the energy consumption sector in the industrial, transportation, and building sectors and even those interconnected between sectors (sector coupling),” said Deon.
According to IESR, Indonesia’s electricity emission intensity is still high compared to other countries in the region. This could hamper investment interest from multinational industries that require low-emission electricity and easy access to renewable energy.
“The government must try to reduce the intensity of GHG emissions in the electricity system by reducing fossil energy generation and increasing renewable energy generation. One option is the early retirement of PLN power plants over 30 years old by 2025, which can also encourage the acceleration of renewable energy generation,” Fabby said.
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