Minister Arifin Says Energy Transition is a Must
MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
PRESS RELEASE
NUMBER: 311.Pers/04/SJI/2020
Date: 22 October 2020
Minister Arifin Says Energy Transition is a Must
The ever-increasing use of fossil energy due to the growing demands has depleted fossil energy reserves. For this reason, the transition from fossil energy to new, renewable energy has become a must.
"Energy transition is a must because it will maintain energy availability in the future," said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (EMR), Arifin Tasrif, in a webinar titled the Portrait of Indonesia's Energy on Wednesday (21/10), held within the Tempo Energy Day Series.
Without new reserves discovery, continued Arifin, Indonesia's oil will deplete in the next nine years, natural gas 22 years, and coal 65 years.
The domestic energy sources are actually abundant, especially for coal and natural gas. However, consumption changes and no exploration have pushed Indonesia closer to energy crisis.
"We still have a large number of oil reservoirs not massively explored. We will explore new resources to support the long term demands," he said.
Arifin explained that Indonesia's current energy source (generation) capacity is 70.96 Giga Watt (GW). The capacity is made up of coal (35.36 percent), natural gas (19.36 percent), oil (34.38 percent), and renewables (10.9 percent).
The government hopes the energy transition will improve trade balance. "We're very serious about improving the trade balance, by reducing oil fuel imports through biodiesel, developing and constructing 6 new refineries to add national (oil and gas) capacity, and accelerating the use of electric vehicles," explained Arifin.
Promoting Renewables
To anticipate energy crisis, the government is drawing up various strategies. Besides boosting exploration activities, the most important program is optimizing the use of renewables. Indonesia is recorded to have more than 400 GW of renewables potential, with only 2.5% or 10 GW has been utilized.
Arifin believes renewables are an important strategy to turn the economic wheel after the pandemic and toward energy sustainability in Indonesia. "Renewables will promote the creation of stable and sustainable long-term economic development, reduce greenhouse gases, and provide employment," he added.
As a follow up, the government has prepared regulations on renewables which will be issued soon. Director General of Electricity of Ministry of EMR, Rida Mulyana, said the regulation will take the form of a presidential regulation and is currently being finalized.
"This regulation will promote the use of renewables and at the same time increase domestic investment. The government can't complete the energy transition alone. The transition highly depends on investment because the government's budget is limited," said Rida.
The draft regulation on new, renewable energy had previously been harmonized with Ministry of Law and Human Rights. The draft is expected to be promulgated before year end.
Additionally, the government is preparing programs called Renewable Energy-Based Industry Development (REBID) and Renewable Energy Based on Economic Development (REBED), designed to speed the use of renewables at industrial estates, Special Economic Zones (KEK), and local economic zones in frontier, outermost, and least developed (3T) areas.
The government has also promoted the development of solar and wind power stations, maximized the use of bioenergy through municipal solid waste power plants (PLTSa) in 12 cities and biomass to fuel co-firing at coal and steam-fired power plants (PLTU), implementation of B-30 biodiesel, and construction of green refinery. (IY)
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