JakartaPost-Jan 16, 2024
Indonesia is planning to slash the targeted share of renewables in the national energy mix, a move seen by experts as a step back in the country’s ambition toward clean energy, while signaling its light-hearted attempt to part ways with fossil fuels. The new target will hover at between 17 and 19 percent by 2025, as proposed by the National Energy Council (DEN). Previously, the government had set a target of 23 percent for the same period. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif told reporters on Monday that renewable energy development had been painstakingly slow and this was partly due to the domination of coal-fired power plants. “We have to be realistic,” Arifin said, when asked about the plan to lower the renewable energy target. “We will adhere to the commitment we made, but we have to work toward it with what we have,” he added. Southeast Asia’s largest economy has committed to cutting carbon emissions by relying less on coal and more on renewable sources of energy, but progress has been slow. Renewables only made up 13 percent of Indonesia’s energy mix last year, according to the ministry’s data. It fell short of the 17.9 percent target that the government has aimed for the year to realize its 2025 target. The figure only marked a minuscule increase from the 12.3 percent achieved the previous year. The latest figure only inched up slightly from the 9.2 percent realized in 2019, energy ministry data also show. In contrast, Indonesia saw its coal production reach an all-time high, at 775 million tonnes, last year. More than 66 percent of it was exported with the rest for domestic consumption. Read more at:
