Indonesian Govt To Develop Renewable Energy

The Indonesian government is planning to build power generators using new and renewable energies (EBT) to provide electricity for the countrys rural areas or villages.

The planned use of new and renewable energy is part of the countrys electrification program called “Indonesia Terang” (Bright Indonesia). Renewable energy is expected to help cover 23 percent of the governments target to produce 35 thousand megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2019.

Currently, 12,659 of 74,754 villages in Indonesia are still without electricity and 65 percent of them are in six provinces in eastern Indonesia.

Therefore, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource is prioritizing the development of power infrastructure in six eastern provinces through the “Indonesia Terang” Program or PIT.

With its Indonesia Terang program, the government has a target to provide electricity for 10,300 villages until 2019, or about 97.35 percent of the country electrification ratio.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resource Sudirman Said stated that the six provinces where electrification ratio is too low currently, are Maluku, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Papua and West Papua.

The electricity infrastructure in these regions will have to be built through different approaches,such as decentralization and island-based infrastructure as well as by harnessing the renewable energy potential there.

Last month, Sudirman said power for rural areas would be generated from renewable energy sources for electrifying remote and isolated areas, islands or frontier areas.

“Currently, Indonesia still depends on fossil energy, the reserves for which will only last for another 10 to 13 years. Fossil energy cannot take Indonesia to where it wants to be by 2045,” Minister Sudirman said, adding that alternative energies such as solar energy, hydro energy, wind energy and other sustainable forms, should therefore be used.

Shifting to clean and renewable energy will have an impact on spending, budget funds, networking with isolated areas and the availability of sustainable energy sources.