Indonesian government estimates that total investment of up to $1,043 billion will be needed to develop new power plants fueled by renewable energy to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2060. The Southeast Asian nation is currently heavily reliant on coal for power generation. The World Bank urged Indonesia to drop a policy forcing miners to supply a set amount of subsidized coal to its state power company PLN, which it said has encouraged the use of the dirty fuel in electricity generation. Indonesia is the biggest exporter of thermal coal globally and among the top ten greenhouse gas emitters. Renewables currently make up around 12% of Indonesia’s energy sources, while coal contributes roughly 60%.
Indonesia has clean energy potential of 3685 GW, comprising 3,295 GW of solar energy, 95 GW hydropower, 57 GW bioenergy, 155 GW wind power, 24 GW geothermal energy, and 60 GW marine energy. Of the total potential, only 10,889 MW of clean energy has been utilized, comprising 194 MW of solar energy, 6,432 MW hydro energy, 1,923 MW bioenergy, 154 MW wind power, and 2,186 MW geothermal energy. In addition to renewable energy, a variety of new energy potentials are still little known, such as nuclear and hydrogen power.