Fantastic News from Indonesia!

Prabowo Subianto, President of Indonesia (the fourth most populous country in the world after India, China, and the US), announced last week at the G20 Summit in Brazil a bold vision to achieve net-zero emissions 10 years earlier than previously planned—moving the net-zero target from 2060 to 2050. Additionally, Indonesia plans to phase out all fossil-fueled power plants within the next 15 years.

While some experts are skeptical of Indonesia’s ambitious plan, the potential impact is significant. If realized, this shift could prevent up to 3 Gt of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere during the 2050-2060 period. Over the last two decades, Indonesia has doubled its per capita CO2 emissions and tripled its national emissions. This shows the enormity of the challenge Indonesia faces as the country seeks to continue growing its economy while decoupling it from rising emissions.

So, how does the Government of Indonesia plan to meet these milestones?  

• Transitioning thermal power plants (coal) to new renewable energy sources. Indonesia plans to phase out coal-fired power plants and all fossil-fueled power plants within the next 15 years, leveraging its tremendous geothermal resources as part of the shift.

• Developing 75 GW of renewables and 5 GW of nuclear in the next 15 years.*

• Increasing biodiesel utilization to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Indonesia has an installed coal capacity which exceeds 50 GW and it is one of the largest coal producers and consumers globally. Repowering a majority of these power plant sites could not only accelerate Indonesia’s net-zero transition but also ensure a just transition that addresses socio-economic, labor, and environmental challenges.  

Our team in Indonesia, led by Bob Effendi, Retno Gumilang, and Rino Mukti, has already begun exploring the technical and economic feasibility of repowering the 660 MW Tanjung Jati-B coal power plant in Central Java with a nuclear reactor. Additionally, they successfully included the word Repowering into the soon-to-be-signed National Energy Policy by President Prabowo, which could enable the repowering of up to 30 GW of thermal power plants by 2050.

Although results are not yet available, we are excited about the momentum that Indonesia’s G20 announcement could bring to our work in the country.

*25 GW Hydro, 7 GW Geothermal, 27 GW solar, 15 GW wind, 5 GW Nuclear, 1 GW bioenergy

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