Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 46 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Indonesia seeks fair

transition to renewables

INDONESIA AT the recent United Nations Climate Change At present Indonesia is listed as possessing
Conference (COP27) in Egypt, Indonesia’s mes- the potential to create almost 200 GW of solar
sage to nations around the world is of a need for capacity in the years ahead.
fairness and balance with regard to developing Crucially in this regard, in a nation made up
nations, particularly in Southeast Asia, as they of thousands of islands spread across such a large
work to wean themselves off coal while at the area, much of this capacity would be in remote
same time increasing renewable energy capacity. locations, thereby enabling the installation of
Termed a ‘just transition’ in local media mini-grids away from nationwide infrastructure.
half a world away, Indonesian representatives Potential geothermal capacity too could
in Sharm-el-Sheikh are pushing for increased make a significant difference, with up to 28 GW
awareness of the situation in Asia as nations face of capacity spread across the archipelago; itself
pressure to ramp up renewables capacity. part of the infamous Pacific Ring of Fire. Indo-
Back home in Jakarta, however, and some- nesia is home to 68 active volcanoes.
what ironically, more interest was shown dur- Biogas also offers substantial potential thanks
ing the second week of COP27 in the presence to Indonesia being heavily dependent on its own
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and farm produce, in addition to ever increasing
Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting at a G20 moves into the use of hydrogen as a fuel across
event held on the island of Bali. the region.
Hosted by Indonesian President Joko A number of other Southeast Asian countries
Widodo, the meeting between the leaders of the are already putting in place infrastructure to aid
world’s two most populous nations was hailed in future moves to hydrogen use.
as ground-breaking in settling territorial differ- Jakarta does still lag in terms of meeting its
ences in the Himalayan region that led to open previous commitments to renewables installa-
clashes in 2020 and 2021. tions by 2025; by that time the government in
In North Africa meanwhile, the so-called Jakarta had promised to have 23% of nation-
‘just transaction’ sought by Jakarta is focused wide energy capacity deriving from renewable
on interlinking economic opportunity with sources.
environmental guarantees that will help protect At present the amount of energy coming
the livelihoods of 276mn Indonesians scattered from renewable energy barely tops 11%.
across more than 15,000 islands. To get anywhere near the 23% figure in the
Already ranked as the seventh most vulnera- next 24 months, Indonesia has already admitted
ble nation in terms of climate change impact, in it would need to invest tens of billions of dollars,
recent years Indonesia has gradually been facing but there is no sign this is going to happen any-
up to its own large-scale emissions problems time soon, in large part as a result of domestic
that also rank it in the top 10 emissions emitters red tape.
worldwide. A change of approach too is being suggested
by some at home and abroad, with the recom-
But things are looking greener. mendation that Indonesia move away from fin-
According to sources across the archipelago, the ger-pointing at developed nations failing to meet
nation is rich in resources, with massive poten- financial promises to the developing world.
tial for geothermal energy in particular. Rather, in order to achieve the “just transi-
Offshore wind opportunities are also being tion” called for in domestic media, Jakarta must
investigated by a number of overseas agencies, make itself worthy of what the influential Jakarta
as are possible sites for solar operations in the Post calls a place of “driving rather than riding in
future. the back seat.”

Week 46 15•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7