Indonesia has announced a short-term target for increasing their share of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix.
The south-east Asian country has announced a medium-term target for increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy use to 25% by 2025. The Indonesian government has now set a target to increase the share of renewable energy in total energy mix to 19% by 2019.
The share of renewable energy in Indonesia’s total energy use, at present, stands at around 5% to 6%.
Interestingly, the announcement of the medium-term target comes just months ahead of the Paris climate change summit, where advanced developing countries, including Indonesia, are expected to face increased pressure to commit to mitigation targets.
Geothermal energy is expected to be central to Indonesia’s renewable energy plans. Indonesia has an estimated geothermal energy potential of 29 GW — equivalent to about 40% of world’s total geothermal reserves. More than 1 GW of electricity generation capacity is operational or under development. The government is expected to speed-up development of additional geothermal energy assets. The government was reported to be working to have 4 to 5 GW of geothermal capacity operational by the end of this year.
The government is also looking to develop wind energy and other renewable energy technologies. Construction of the country’s first large-scale wind energy project has already started, with the 50 MW project is being constructed by a joint venture between an Indonesian and American company. The project is expected to be commissioned in 2019.
Indonesia is also planning to significantly increase investments in the energy sector. The government has lined up more over $300 billion investment in the energy sector, including $38 billion in the renewable energy sector.
Source: CleanTechnica. Reproduced with permission.
