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JETP funds are moving: How do we increase the flow?

Because Indonesia's energy transition costs are higher than any group of countries can provide, to accelerate the energy transition, Indonesia needs a friendly, welcoming business environment where renewable projects can thrive.

Alexia Latortue (The Jakarta Post)
Washington, DC
Wed, July 10, 2024 Published on Jul. 9, 2024 Published on 2024-07-09T16:36:04+07:00

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JETP funds are moving: How do we increase the flow? A bus travels on Oct. 18, 2020, near the Cirebon-1 coal-fired power plant in Cirebon, West Java. The Asian Development Bank has agreed to help state-owned electricity company PLN retire the plant 15 years early. (Antara/Yudhi Mahatma)

S

ince President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, United States President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a US$20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) package for Indonesia a year and a half ago, the US and our International Partners Group (IPG) partners have been working hand-in-hand with Indonesian counterparts to move from announcement to planning to implementation. We are now at the implementation stage. 

The overarching JETP vision can be summed up simply: an accelerated energy transition leading to an energy-secure Indonesia, with healthy clean air, and a booming green economy creating quality jobs for current and future generations of Indonesian citizens. Achieving this vision is also essential to addressing the impacts of climate change, to which Indonesia is highly vulnerable. 

Last November, Indonesia launched its Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan (CIPP). CIPP lays out a financial, technical and policy road map for the JETP and is pivotal to unlocking JETP financing. When it was launched, IPG partners announced an additional $1.5 billion in support. Since then, JETP funds have started flowing, with $1 billion in projects and programs already approved, including over $200 million in grants.

Case in point: The US Development Finance Corporation recently announced a $126 million commitment to the Indonesian power company PT Medco Cahaya Geothermal to support the Ijen geothermal project. Ijen will provide clean baseload energy to the people of East Java, powering green growth for decades to come.

And there is much more public and private financing ready to support Indonesia's own ambitions and plans through the JETP. We eagerly await the release of the RUKN and RUPTL, the two official power sector planning documents. We hope these documents will include ambitious targets for renewables so that more JETP financing can flow into solar, wind and transmission projects. Investors are also looking to the state-owned electricity company PLN to rapidly increase the number of projects under development, and the IPG stands ready to finance these projects. And finally, there is $2.4 billion in public financing for the JETP actively under negotiation. 

Green industries could be worth an estimated $10.3 trillion to the global economy by 2050, and achieving JETP goals will enable Indonesia to better participate in this growing market. For example, decarbonizing Indonesia's grid will allow Indonesia to seize economic opportunities and supercharge its economic growth. A greener grid will attract more international investment and know-how to Indonesia's shores, diversify the economy by growing the industries of the future and create good jobs for Indonesian workers.

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Indonesian citizens stand to gain directly from this transition. CIPP estimates that the JETP will directly create roughly 383,000 jobs by 2030. The JETP is working so that the benefits of Indonesia's green transformation are shared widely, including among traditionally marginalized groups and the workers and communities that now depend on fossil fuels.

Beyond these economic opportunities, the JETP will help improve air quality by accelerating the transition away from highly polluting energy sources like coal toward renewables. Officials estimate that coal-fired power plants create up to one-third of Greater Jakarta's air pollution. Poor air quality affects more than quality of life; it takes a tragic human toll. Experts estimate that coal pollution factors into more than 10,000 deaths per year in Jakarta alone, and many more people suffer from debilitating respiratory illnesses. 

One of our JETP priorities is the early retirement of the Cirebon-1 coal-fired power plant. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), PLN, PT Cirebon Electric Power and the Indonesia Investment Authority signed a framework agreement under the ADB's Energy Transition Mechanism to retire Cirebon-1 an estimated 15 years before the end of its normal operational lifespan. This groundbreaking deal, supported by both public and private JETP financing, will help avoid years of emissions and improve air and water quality in surrounding communities.

At the same time, the goal is to rapidly build out reliable and affordable renewable energy. Indonesia is fortunate to have untapped solar, wind, hydro and geothermal resources that, once developed, will provide electricity at no additional cost and are immune to shifting market prices. The JETP will accelerate renewable energy into the grid, diversifying Indonesia's power supply, and upgrading and expanding Indonesia's grid infrastructure will make it more resilient to shocks that could otherwise cause outages. All of these investments will also benefit Indonesia's energy security and independence. 

Because Indonesia's energy transition costs are higher than any group of countries can provide, to accelerate the energy transition, Indonesia needs a friendly, welcoming business environment where renewable projects can thrive. President Jokowi has made this his priority and has taken important steps, including through Presidential Declaration 112 on Renewable Energy. Still, more policy action is needed. 

For example, allowing private power producers to transmit electricity directly to customers via the public grid – "power wheeling" – would increase Indonesia's green energy supply and attract new manufacturing and jobs to Indonesia's shores. Without reliable sources of clean energy, investors will turn elsewhere, and Indonesia's exports will face stronger competition in global markets increasingly demanding green supply chains.

Another example is Local Content Requirements for renewable projects that are impeding investments. Temporarily relaxing these requirements combined with incentives to foster the growth of Indonesian manufacturers of renewable components would drive renewable growth now and promote an Indonesian solar industry.

Together, these policies would immediately kick-start renewable energy deployment while building local manufacturing capacity and competitiveness over the long term so that producers can meet domestic demand and potentially export to the world. 

Accelerating the energy transition will create well-paying jobs, a strong and diversified economy and an energy-secure Indonesia, all while improving air and water quality for the Indonesian people. With the JETP, Indonesia became a leader in setting high ambition for its energy transition. The path forward is clear; Indonesia simply needs to stay the course.

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The writer is assistant secretary for International Trade and Development, United States Department of the Treasury

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