TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsGovt vows to push local solar power to cut energy subsidies
The initiative, which could cost around $100 billion, would involve building solar farms of 1 to 1.5 hectares in each village across the archipelago.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A maintenance worker cleans solar panels on May 14, 2022 on the rooftop of a frozen food factory in Bogor, West Java. (Antara/Arif Firmansyah)
T
he government plans to accelerate the adoption of solar power at the local level through more than 80,000 newly launched village-level cooperatives to generate clean energy and cut long-term reliance on electric subsidies.
The initiative, which could cost around US$100 billion, would involve building solar farms of 1 to 1.5 hectares in villages of every subdistrict across the archipelago.
“We're looking into the President's directive. […] The goal is energy independence,” said Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Thursday, as quoted by Kompas.com.
The minister, who also leads the task force behind the cooperatives initiative, said the project’s $100 billion cost was roughly equal to four years of the country’s electricity subsidies, noting that they cost the state about $25 billion annually.
“If it’s $100 billion, that’s just four years. So, by the fifth or sixth year, this investment pays for itself […] we will not need subsidies anymore,” he noted.
Read also: Prabowo rolls out state-backed co-ops to boost grassroots economy
He added that localized solar generation could be more efficient than relying on state-owned electricity distributor PLN.
