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Solar energy association criticizes govt's renewable energy policy
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Workers inspect a solar panel at a solar power plant in Ampas village, Skanto district, Keerom, Papua. The Indonesian Solar Energy Association has claimed that the government’s renewable energy policy does not support the development of solar energy in the country. (Antara/Indrayadi Th)
T
he Indonesian Solar Energy Association (AESI) has criticized the issuance of four ministerial regulations that it claims do not support the government’s clean energy development program.
The association’s chairman, Andhika Prastawa, said in Jakarta on Tuesday the association would report the issue to the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, as other ministries did not adequately address its concerns when contacted.
Andhika said two of the four regulations were issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry while the other two were issued by the Industry Ministry.
“Because our complaints have yet to be comprehensively responded to by the two ministers, they will be brought up at a meeting at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister,” he said.
He said the association would meet with the coordinating economic minister to discuss the issue. “The meeting is likely to be held next week, but we still don’t know for sure,” Andhika added.
The two regulations from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry are Ministerial Regulation No. 50/2017 on the utilization of renewable energy for electricity and Regulation No. 49/2018 on the utilization of rooftop solar panels by PLN customers.
Andhika said the regulations, which he claimed did not support the development of clean energy, included a price cap of 85 percent of local electricity supply costs for solar power using the photovoltaic system and the "Build, Own, Operate and Transfer" contract scheme in the construction of a power plant
Meanwhile, one of the two regulations from the Industry Ministry on renewable energy stipulates that investors can only build a solar power plant if they can meet the 60 percent local content requirement. This requirement was difficult to fulfill because most of the equipment used for solar power plants was imported, he said.
Triharyo Soesilo, the project director for energy from the Committee for Acceleration of Priority Infrastructure Delivery (KPPIP), confirmed the plan to bring the association’s complaints to the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister.
Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution leads the KPPIP, which was created under Presidential Regulation No. 75/2014 on speeding up the development of priority projects.
The government previously set a target of having clean energy comprise 23 percent of the national energy mix by 2025. As of December, the figure stood below 10 percent.
Furthermore, recent government data show that the country managed to only book around 26 percent of the total targeted electricity capacity from clean power at 45,200 megawatts in 2025. (hen)
