Jakarta – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) revealed that Indonesia has great potential in green energy, reaching 4 terawatts (TW) or around 3,687 gigawatts (GW). However, this vast potential is still not optimally utilised.
Director General of New Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (Dirjen EBTKE) Eniya Listiani Dewi explained the details of this potential at the Green Economic Forum 2024 on Thursday, May 30. According to her, solar energy has the largest potential among other renewable energy sources in Indonesia, reaching 3,294 GW.
Dewi explained that of this huge potential, the biggest is Solar Power Plant (PLTS) “because it is expected that not only land but also floating PV is utilised”. She said the development of PLTS is very promising, especially floating PLTS at sea.
Currently, the ESDM Ministry is reviewing the development of a Floating Solar Power Plant in Cilamaya, which has the potential to produce 2 GW. Dewi said that although the potential is large, the installation is only around 537 MW.
She added that the ministry has increased the quota for rooftop solar power by an additional 1.5 GW and floating solar generators in dams by 14 GW. In addition to solar energy, Indonesia has the potential for 95 GW of hydropower, although the installed capacity currently only reaches 6.7 GW.
Dewi said there is still a lot of untapped potential for wind power, estimated at around 155 GW. “We have great potential in Kalimantan… then in South Sulawesi. That region is a target for wind utilisation. Currently, it is very small,” she said.
Another challenge in developing clean energy in Indonesia is the development of Geothermal Power Plants (PLTP). “Geothermal is always constrained by its location. We are (located in) a ring-of-fire, from all over Sumatra to the east (of Indonesia). The utilisation of geothermal is very small. The potential is 23 GW, but only 2,000 MW (is realised),” said Dewi.
She said many investors have changed their minds about investing in a location with large geothermal potential. Still, the surrounding population is small, or in other words, with small demand, the project is not bankable. (Hartatik)
