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Govt woos Tesla with green power
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President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo meets with Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in Texas, the United States, on May 14. (The Jakarta Post/Twitter)
T
he government is promoting industrial estates supplied with electricity from renewable sources as it hopes to attract foreign direct investment by multinational firms conscious of their carbon footprint.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Thursday that the government had proposed to Tesla to build a factory in Batang, East Java, with an annual capacity of roughly 500,000 electric vehicles (EVs).
The government considers the place suitable because it is near geothermal power sources estimated sufficient to supply 400 megawatts of generating capacity. State-owned Geo Dipa Energi runs geothermal power facilities in the region.
“We could […] channel this green energy [to Tesla’s factory],” Luhut told lawmakers during a meeting with the House of Representatives' Budget Commission.
Read also: Indonesian ministries clash over clean power export plan
The government has been increasingly protective of its renewable energy sources, with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and ministers floating the idea to ban the export of electricity generated from such sources.
The proposed ban was announced after President Jokowi visited the United States last month, where he also met Tesla CEO Elon Musk to reiterate Indonesia’s invitation for investment.
