Jakarta – PT PLN (Persero) has secured several important agreements at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Various collaborations aim to accelerate Indonesia’s energy transition.
The cooperation was signed on Sunday (3/12/2033) and witnessed by the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani Indrawati. PLN pressed agreements with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (PT SMI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Cirebon Electric Power (CEP), and the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA).
Sri Mulyani appreciates the real support from the global community in realizing energy transition in Indonesia. She targets that the agreements signed at COP28 can be executed within the next two years.
“This is the first step that I hope will become a reality in the next two years. Thank you for the support of all parties in their confidence in working with Indonesia to mitigate the climate crisis,” said Sri Mulyani in a press release on Monday (4/12/2033).
Sri Mulyani explained that Indonesia needs at least US$97 billion by 2030 to carry out the energy transition. Indonesia currently has an Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM), which is a mixed financing mechanism that can be used by the global community to resolve the climate crisis.
“We need concrete steps through Green Low-Cost Financing. We provide a strong foundation for an environmentally friendly financing platform through ETM and JETP, which we have included in the Comprehensive Investment & Policy Plan (CIPP),” she continued.
The President Director of PLN, Darmawan Prasodjo, explained that PLN is involved in hundreds of energy transition projects in the CIPP. In the first achievement of the agreement in Dubai, PLN will accelerate the development of Accelerated Renewable Energy Development (ARED). With ARED, PLN is projected to reduce 127 million tons of CO2 by 2030.
“We are making our best effort to carry out this energy transition. We cannot walk alone. We need global collaboration in terms of policy, technology, innovation, and investment to save the earth,” said Darmawan.
Darmawan then detailed that PLN is collaborating with NREL, which is the center for the development of EBT from the United States. In this case, NREL also acts as an interim secretariat for the Global Power System Transformation. He explained that this cooperation will include a study on the development of PLN’s control center. The latest technology innovations are needed to accelerate the development of EBT and ensure that EBT power plants can operate efficiently and economically.
Specifically, both parties will also study the integration of the power system networks in Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and Sumatra. These three regions have great potential for EBT, so an integration network system is needed to supply electricity to the entire population.
“The transition will not be possible without transmission. Thus, cooperation in technological innovation to create a reliable transmission network that can solve the mismatch between EBT sources and demand is very important. This effort can accelerate the increased use of EBT,” said Darmawan.
In the second cooperation, PLN and GEAPP will collaborate in the potential development of significant carbon emissions reduction projects in the electricity sector. Especially in replacing power plants that have been based on fossil energy with domestic energy according to regional potential.
Together with GEAPP, PLN will accelerate the dedieselization, electric vehicle infrastructure, and the development of EBT in Indonesia.
The third cooperation, PLN also agreed to cooperate with PT SMI and KfW to utilize the Project Development Facility (PDF) managed by PT SMI for Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Plant projects in accelerating Indonesia’s energy transition.
Later, KfW and PT SMI will provide support in the form of feasibility studies and Environmental & Social Scoping in the preparation stage of the Grindulu Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Plant 4×250 MW and Sumatera Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Plant 2×250 MW.
The last cooperation is PLN with CEP, ADB, and INA are striving to accelerate the retirement of the Cirebon coal-fired power plant in December 2035. This is faster than the previous target of July 2042. Darmawan said that this effort can avoid carbon emissions of up to 30 million tons of CO2.
“Under the guidance of Mrs. Sri Mulyani, we can obtain support from the green financing country platform to expand our efforts in energy transition. Under this financing scheme, we can expand our EBT projects to 21.6 GW,” Darmawan concluded.
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