Indonesia to build 75GW of renewable energy in the next 15 years, COP29 envoy says
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Indonesia, one the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JAKARTA - Indonesia plans to offer international investors opportunities to build 75 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power in the country in the next 15 years, its climate envoy said on the sidelines of the United Nations COP29 climate summit.
The plan is a commitment by President Prabowo Subianto, who took office in October, said Mr Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Mr Prabowo’s brother and Indonesia’s envoy to the 2024 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, including by phasing out coal-fired power plants and replacing them with renewable energy sources.
“There will be 100GW of new energy that will be implemented in the new administration in the next 15 years, of which 75 per cent, or 75GW, will be renewable energy,” Mr Hashim said in a live-streamed speech on Nov 11 in Baku.
The renewable projects would include solar, hydro, geothermal and nuclear power, Mr Hashim said, without detailing plans for the remaining 25GW.
Indonesia’s current installed power capacity is more than 90GW, with more than half of that powered by coal and less than 15 per cent by renewables. It currently has no nuclear capacity, a controversial topic in a country prone to earthquakes.
The country’s state-power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara is designing a new green transmission line spanning 70,000km, its chief executive Darmawan Prasodjo said from Baku, according to a company statement.
The Indonesian authorities have often promoted the country’s potential in renewables, but it has not developed much renewable capacity due to subsidies for coal that make renewable tariffs unattractive for investors, analysts have said.
In his speech, Mr Hashim also said Indonesia plans to offer carbon offset projects that could remove hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon emission from the atmosphere. He did not elaborate on these projects.
Mr Prabowo will also embark on a years-long project of reforesting 12.7 million ha of severely degraded forests with funding that includes foreign sources, Mr Hashim said.
He added that Bezos Earth Fund, businessman Jeff Bezos’ US$10 billion (S$13.4 billion) green funding project, was already interested.
Bezos Earth Fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS
