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View all search resultsRI grid not ready to meet growing solar demand amid energy crisis
The oil and gas shortage caused by the United States-Israeli war on Iran should drive demand for renewables, but Indonesia’s inadequate grid infrastructure means a long waiting list remains for rooftop solar installation.
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A farmer stands on a boat that passes through solar panels installed as part of the Rawa Pening floating solar photovoltaic plant in Tuntang, Semarang regency, Central Java on Oct. 12, 2025. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
T
he oil and gas shortage caused by the United States-Israeli war on Iran should drive demand for renewables, but Indonesia’s inadequate grid infrastructure means a long waiting list remains for rooftop solar installation.
Norman Bakhtiar, renewable division head at Jakarta-based renewable energy developer firm Tara Bhaskara Aevitas, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the company had received five potential projects for solar panels since the war began in late February, wreaking havoc on energy markets.
Tara has handled renewable power projects for the installation of a total of 20 megawatts (MW) in capacity, including solar panels, from the planning phase down to the execution, maintenance and to the end of the generators’ life, but the five new projects were different, since the company “has never received” such an order previously, said Norman.
The clients were seeking to shift electricity generation from diesel to off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV), which was unprecedented for Tara, because off-grid investment was “very expensive”, said Norman.
Off-grid renewable installations means a facility receives power solely from that source, disconnected from the national grid operated by state-owned electricity company PLN, and where the power could cost three or four times as much as PLN charges per kilowatt-hour.
Norman explained that off-grid solar installation cost a lot because it required battery storage, as PV panels cannot supply energy day and night, making it an uneconomical solution in many cases.
The more common scheme is to connect renewable installations with the PLN grid, which serves as a backup when the renewable source cannot be tapped, and therein lies the problem.
