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Jokowi era crucial for clean-energy development
An officer of the Kamojang geothermal power plant checks a production drilling well in Kamojang, Garut, West Java (left photo)
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An officer of the Kamojang geothermal power plant checks a production drilling well in Kamojang, Garut, West Java (left photo). The Kamojang geothermal power plant is operated by PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A) (left photo). The Kamojang geothermal power plant is operated by PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
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span class="inline inline-center">An officer of the Kamojang geothermal power plant checks a production drilling well in Kamojang, Garut, West Java (left photo). The Kamojang geothermal power plant is operated by PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
The years of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's administration are a crucial time for reducing Indonesia's oil and coal dependency and turning to the abundant sources of renewable energy in Indonesia such as wind, hydro, biomass, sea-wave, solar, and geothermal energies, experts have said.
Kamaruddin Abdullah, a renewable energy expert at Darma Persada University, said the feed-in-tariff policy issued in 2013 was a strategic policy to develop clean energy, as Oil and Gas Regulator (SKK Migas) estimated that Indonesia's oil stocks would last for another 23 years.
'The cost of new and renewable energies are not affected by international oil and coal prices. They have been relatively stable during the concession period, thus reducing the risk of ballooning subsidies in the state budget,' he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Kamaruddin supported Jokowi's initiative to make green energy a priority, which he said was shown in the budget allocation, as it paved the way for further programs and policies to develop and expand new and renewable energies.
Of the Rp 8.5 trillion budget for the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the new and renewable energy directorate general pocketed Rp 2.1 trillion, the second-biggest budget allocation in the ministry after the oil and gas directorate general, which was given Rp 2.9 trillion.
Meanwhile, energy observer Sampe L. Purba said that Indonesia's policy of energy management must be based on three aspects namely resilience, self-sustainability, and sovereignty.
'In the implementation stage, we need to combine these aspects with the dynamic global energy situation, leading to policy adjustments for controlling the impact of global energy changes to Indonesia's energy resilience in the long-run,' he said. (ags)(+)
