Indonesia is at the dawn of a cleaner energy future, and GGGI is supporting it by facilitating a discussion on solutions to enable rapid renewable energy projects.

Indonesia is at the dawn of a cleaner energy future. The country continues to promote efforts to increase renewable energy in its energy mix, following its ambitious target for emission reduction in accordance to the Paris Agreement. Indonesia targets emission reduction of up to 29% by its own effort and up to 41% with international support by 2030, as described in Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The target proportion of emission reduction from the energy sector is 11%, while also aiming for 23% energy coming from new and renewable energy by 2025.

At the same time, the cost of renewable energy is decreasing significantly throughout the world—particularly in the Solar PV sector – reaching unprecedented lows with no indication of slowing down anytime soon. Declining technological costs, improved capacity, and better procurement methodologies have played a key role in lowering the project costs and making renewable energy more affordable.

With these opportunities in mind, GGGI Indonesia supported the Directorate General of New Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (Ditjen EBTKE) and the Indonesian Renewable Energy Society (METI) to explore options for increasing investments in renewable energy at the 6^th Indonesia EBTKE ConEx 2017, the biggest renewable energy and clean energy conference and exhibition in the archipelago. GGGI organized a special session to discuss practical methodologies to enable rapid renewable energy development in Indonesia, particularly for Solar PV.

Sharing experiences and expertise in the session were Director of China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute (CREEI) Wang Jixue, Managing Director of Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) Ashvini Kumar and Director of Energy Strategy Development Group from the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO) of Thailand’s Ministry of Energy Tanongsak Wongla. They brought to the discussion floor various measures, policies and incentives to push renewable energy projects forward in their countries.

In addition, Nur Syamsu, Senior Manager, Procurement and Control, Renewable Energy Division of Indonesia’s State Electricity Company (PLN) presented specific potential in Indonesia’s energy sector. With the high potential of renewable energy in Indonesia, the PLN plans to generate 21.5 GW of electricity from renewable sources by 2026.

The session concluded several key points that can push renewable energy projects further in Indonesia:

1. Learning from China, India and Thailand, Indonesia can set up legally-supported dedicated fund for renewable energy. The renewable energy fund can be utilized for many purposes, including building grid infrastructure and offering more subsidies for development projects.
2. Impose progressive electricity tariff structure to promote higher use of renewable energy.
3. Provide more incentives or ease of business for developers on grid integration, land acquisition and scheme alternatives.
4. Offer more feasible feed-in-tariff (FIT) and relax must-run status for all renewable energy power plants in Indonesia.

The Government of Indonesia is also planning to roll out more fiscal incentives to boost the renewable energy sector and meet its energy mix target as well as the Paris Agreement emission reduction target. By following up on the suggestions resulted from the EBTKE session, the country is forging a brighter path for cleaner future.