5 Minutes with Pak Jisman, Directorate General of Electricity

by Admin Pusat

Enlit Asia speaks to Pak Jisman P. Hutajulu, Directorate General of Electricity, Ministry of Energy & Natural Resources, Government of Indonesia, about the Indonesia’s changing energy landscape, and what effect the energy transition will have on the region.

Pak Jisman, how would you summarise the current energy transition in Indonesia?
Indonesia is committed to supporting the global commitment in making sure the global temperature rise does not exceed 2°C and maintaining 1.5°C by reducing greenhouse gases. Furthermore, Indonesia has set a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) by reducing emissions by 29% below business as usual in 2030 and 41% with international cooperation.

For the energy sector, we are planning to offset 129 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, which will allow us to achieve Net Zero Emissions (NZE) in 2060. For the electricity sector, we expect to reach zero tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2060.

Regarding energy infrastructure, Indonesia plans to develop an inter-island interconnection to address a mismatch between demand and energy sources. The potential resources of hydro power are abundant in the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, but demand lies mostly in Java, Sulawesi and Maluku, in the smelter industries. This is where transmission development comes in as the backbone; we believe that there is no energy transition without transmission, and no energy security without interconnectivity.

Indonesia has also developed supporting policies for the energy transition and introduced a carbon pricing mechanism with carbon tax as a financial incentive to reduce the carbon footprint. Currently, we have officially launched carbon trading for coal-fired power plants, covering 99 units connected to the grid with a total capacity of 33.6 GW owned and operated by PLN.

To achieve the Net Zero Emission target in 2060, we need an investment of 994 billion USD for power generation and 113 billion for transmission, or about 28.5 billion per year. So, we are open for any overseas countries to invest in Indonesia’s energy transition programme.

How does electricity development in Indonesia differ from the rest of the region?
Currently, the total power generation in Indonesia is around 84 GW with 90% of power generation developed by PLN as the largest electric utility company in Indonesia. The 10% remaining is on industrial development in certain areas.

However, from the total 84 GW, 67% of the energy mix comes from coal power generation. We are now working on reducing our dependency in fossil power generation, and Indonesia has set renewable energy targets to be achieved by 23% renewable energy share in energy mix in 2025 and 31% in 2050 as stated in our National Energy Policy (KEN).

Indonesia has huge potential for renewable energy by 740 GW: mostly from solar PV (430 GW), hydro (82 GW) and bioenergy (57 GW). At present, the renewable energy share is about 14% in energy mix with a target of 23% in 2025.

In the development of new renewable energy, we consider the demand, reliability, and cost of power generation. We must keep electricity tariffs in Indonesia affordable and the industry more competitive.

We also preparing a roadmap for natural retirement for 65 GW coal powerplant based on the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The highest emission will be in 2030. Coal powerplants will end in 2057.

Currently, Indonesia is intensively discussing a roadmap for early retirement for coal powerplants with international organizations in Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) programme. The JETP programme has committed to support the energy transition in Indonesia with planning of financial support is about 20 billion USD.

Can you share with us how current strategies in place will support the decarbonisation of the domestic power sector?
Indonesia has some strategies to diversify energy sources and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. These include pushing renewable energy including floating and rooftop solar PV, conversion of diesel powerplants to RE powerplants, biomass co-firing, retirement of coal powerplants, to widely open penetration of renewable energy.

We have an electricity business plan by PLN for the next 10 years, called the Green Business Plan (RUPTL) 2021-2030. About 52% is coming from renewable energy, 48% of fossil power plant development is already in committed or under construction status when RUPTL had issued. 21 GW of powerplant in RUPTL.

We have an opportunity to develop 7.4GW RE which consists of 2.7 GW of solar power, 2.5 GW of hydropower, 1.4 GW of geothermal, 285 MW of wind power, and 463 MW of bioenergy.

There is no longer additional coal powerplant except under construction or committed stage.

The Government has introduced the de-dieselisation programme, or the conversion of diesel power plants scattered over 2,130 locations.

In a way to achieve renewable energy targets towards NZE, we have engaged in international collaborations and partnerships to support its decarbonisation efforts in the power sector.

Intensive coordination with international support such as JETP and AZEC will bring more access to financing, technology transfers, and knowledge sharing in renewable energy development.

How big of a problem is outdated grid infrastructure in supporting the energy transition, and what steps are being taken to support investment in the national grid?
Grid infrastructure is critical in supporting our energy transition. We need to bring more advanced technologies to improve our grid infrastructure especially in increasing renewable energy penetration.

Lack of improvement in grid infrastructure may bring imbalance in the system and increase inefficiency on evacuating power supply. These conditions can lead to an unstable grid and low share of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) penetration.

We believe that the modernisation of the grid should be able to accommodate variable generations and ensuring a stable and reliable electricity supply. To address these challenges, we can upgrade the national grid with advanced high-voltage transmission lines (HVAC and HVDC, Subsea or Overhead transmission).

Nowadays, the Java-Bali system is on over-capacity. So, the transmission from Java to Sumatera is needed to evacuate the power. Also, we need a transmission line from the main island backbone to the small islands which don’t have adequate energy sources.

We have also planned for a supergrid to connect the major islands in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. With this supergrid programme, we can evacuate a huge hydro potential around 12 GW from Kalimantan to Java Island as the demand centre and to Sulawesi as the load centre for smelter industries.

Another effort is implementing smart grid technologies such as OML (Online Monitoring Losses) and AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) and enhancing grid flexibility; this will be the key consideration.

We also now preparing policies and regulations to encourage private sector participation in collaboration with PLN to improve of grid development and support national power grid investment.

With Indonesia’s power demand forecast to grow at over 5% to 2030, and likely beyond, how do you foresee this affecting the energy transition in the country?
We have forecast our power demand based on the projected economic growth and expect to reach 1,972 TWh in 2060. Our energy transition efforts towards NZE, will have 93% emission reduction through optimisation of renewable energy development with a capacity of 708 GW.

The power generation will be dominated by VRE by about 77%, equipped with energy storage technologies, pumped storage hydro powerplant and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).

While on the demand side, the energy transition effort could be developed with the deployment of Electric Vehicles (EVs), induction stoves, electrifying agriculture, and implementing energy efficiency measures.

Following up on the previous question, how do you foresee countries such as Indonesia needing to re-adjust current decarbonisation strategies to accommodate this change?
We are aware this projected economic growth may impact the development of our energy transition programmes. The implementation of energy transition programmes and strategy shall be evaluated regularly with the relevant stakeholders. It is crucial to adapt the decarbonisation strategies to meet the growing power demand.

We believe that the collaborations and knowledge sharing with partner countries, international organisations, and institutions can provide valuable insights, best practices, access to funding, technology transfers, and capacity-building initiatives to overcome the re-adjustment of our energy transition strategies.

How do platforms such as Enlit Asia and HLN78 support the achievement of Indonesian NZE/NDC targets? We appreciate the contribution of Enlit Asia and HLN78 in supporting the achievement of Indonesia NZE/NDC targets.

We hope Enlit Asia will assist us in engaging power and energy professionals with the knowledge and experience in energy transition programmes and HLN78 to support us on preparing the ASEAN region’s readiness for the energy transition.

Source : https://www.enlit-asia365.com/grids/pak-jisman-indonesia-grids/?utm_source=enewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Enlit-Asia-Industry-newsletter-2023

No comments

Leave a comment