Government to establish special body to develop new, renewable energy
The Indonesian government is planning to set up a special corporate body to develop new and renewable energy in several parts of the country.The body will be similar to the state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said noted after a limited meeting on electricity at the Vice Presidential Office here on Thursday.
He stated that the government is still studying the model of the corporate body. It can be a subsidiary of PT PLN, and that investors will not harbor doubts about it.With the creation of the special corporate body, the government will provide subsidy to achieve the economic price of new and renewable energy, he remarked.He affirmed that the accelerated development of new and renewable energy will significantly contribute to energy supply in the long run and will ensure energy security and self-reliance in energy.
“The PLN-like body for new and renewable energy will help conventional PLN deal with a limited amount of budget funds to develop energy in the upstream sector and resources to achieve the governments target,” he pointed out.Law No. 30 of 2007 on Energy and Government Regulation No. 79 of 2014 on the National Energy Policy underscores the need to accelerate the development of new and renewable energy.
Through the national energy policy, the government is seeking to increase the share of new and renewable energy in the national energy mix by 23 percent in 2015. The target is four times as much as the level achieved at present.Among the breakthroughs achieved by the government in the development of new and renewable energy are forming and managing an energy security fund, developing centers of excellence for clean energy in the country, and launching a new and renewable energy program to supply electricity to remote areas.
To achieve the target of 25 percent of 35 thousand megawatts from new and renewable energy, the government has built wind turbine plants in Samas in Yogyakarta and Sidrap in South Sulawesi; a geothermal power plant in Sarulla in North Sumatra; and a biomass electrical power plant in Surabaya in East Java
