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View all search resultsTechnical, financial hurdles threaten RI’s 100 GW local solar power ambition
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.
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A worker checks on a solar panel at the Mecan Island Solar Power Plant in Riau Islands on Dec. 12, 2023. (Antara/Teguh Prihatna)
T
he government’s plan to deploy 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power by leveraging the nationwide Red and White Cooperatives (KMP) program may face challenges due to the operators’ limited technical and financial capacity, analysts have warned.
While officials hail the scheme as a masterstroke in the grassroots energy transition, experts point to a yawning gap between ambition and reality.
Key concerns include the cooperatives’ lack of technical expertise, the immense financial investment required and the current state of Indonesia’s domestic solar manufacturing, which experts say is far from ready to meet such colossal demand.
As a result, the program may face delays or risk dependence on foreign equipment, undermining its domestic economic goals.
In July, Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan stated that the government planned to accelerate the adoption of solar power at the local level through more than 80,000 newly launched village-level cooperatives.
The initiative, which could cost around US$100 billion, would involve building solar farms of 1 to 1.5 hectares in villages of every sub-district across the archipelago.
“If each village generates its own power, we will not need long-distance transmission like [that provided by] PLN,” the minister, who also leads the task force behind the cooperatives initiative, added.
