Speaking at the BNEF Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali on Saturday, Luhut noted that the target was very likely to be achieved considering Indonesia’s new and renewable energy potential of 437 gigawatts (GW). The government, he continued, was ready to develop the national clean energy potential through state-owned electricity company PT PLN (Persero).

"[PLN president director] Pak Darmawan mentioned and reminded me that until 2060, the potential for renewable energy investment is around US$700 billion. This is a big cake, and that's why I am very confident that Indonesia can accelerate the energy transition as there is so much potential that we can do in this country, if we manage it well," he said.

With Indonesia’s sizable potential for new and renewable energy, Luhut said this could serve as an opportunity for cooperation among countries around the world to jointly reduce carbon emissions.

"You can see that Indonesia is committed to net-zero emissions by 2060 or faster. And again, I believe we can make it happen faster through technology and teamwork, and we are learning."

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PLN president director Darmawan Prasodjo noted that Indonesia’s energy transition must be carried out to guarantee the future of the nation's children, as it is a value held by PLN in its commitment to the energy transition.

"In this regard, PLN has decided that we have full commitment. We do it not only because there is an international agreement, not just because of a policy. We do it because we really care," he said.

PLN has made various efforts in the energy-transition agenda. In addition to intensively building new and renewable energy-based power plants, PLN also encourages the growth of the electric vehicle ecosystem to reduce fossil-fuel energy dependence in the midst of net-zero emission targets and the energy crisis.

"Therefore, we must ensure that in the near future, clean energy will ensure energy security and affordability," Darmawan said.

As an example, in the short term, the use of natural gas is one of the important strategies in the energy transition in addition to the development of renewable energy. In the long term, PLN will focus on developing large-scale renewable energy combined with energy storage and interconnection.

"We have succeeded in removing 13 GW of coal power plants in the planning phase. This means that we can avoid 1.8 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over 25 years," Darmawan explained.

In addition, PLN has also changed the planning for the construction of 1.1 GW of coal plants to be based on clean energy, along with converting 880 MW of coal plants to become gas-based.

"We are also building a long-term electricity procurement plan [RUPTL] which is very aggressive in adding 20.9 GW of new and renewable energy, or 51.6 percent of the addition of power plants from 2021 to 2030. This is the greenest RUPTL in PLN's history and in the history of Indonesia."

Darmawan added that in 2022, PLN was able to reduce emissions by up to 35 million tonnes. However, if there is no maximum effort to reduce emissions, carbon emissions could reach 240 million tonnes.

"So it is very important how all of this is not done only in one high-level strategy, but can be translated into effective operations in the field," he said.

For this to happen, there is a need for technological innovation, financing and policies that allow renewable energy to be developed on a large scale. PLN itself, he continued, had developed a comprehensive roadmap to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.

"PLN is fully committed to net-zero emissions. In the past, our main business was providing electricity to customers, but in the future PLN's main task is to maintain a good environment, with electricity being one of the company's business products," Darmawan concluded.

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