Develop Clean Energy, Indonesia Agrees With Cooperation With Nordics

JAKARTA - To increase the use of renewable energy, the Indonesian government is collaborating with other countries including Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland) which have proven successful in the development of clean energy. This collaboration is expected to provide potential support for Indonesia to accelerate the energy transition and target net zero emissions.

"The energy transition has become one of the main focuses of the global climate change agenda. Therefore, during this year's G20 Presidency, Indonesia presented an energy transition as one of the three core discussions," said Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Rida Mulyana to the media, Saturday, December 10.

In the midst of war events, continued Rida, Russia and Ukraine which led to a multidimensional crisis, the G20 Energy Transition working group produced a consensus on the Bali Compact to ensure a smooth and effective energy transition for members of the G20 countries.

"One of the principles of Bali Compact is highlighting the importance of international partnerships to support developing economies in increasing investment towards low emission energy systems or net-zero," Rida continued.

According to Rida, in the next four decades, Indonesia will produce more than 580 electric GWs from the sun, water, geothermal, and hydrogen.

Although fossil energy, such as oil and gas will support the transition to a cleaner energy system, the Government of Indonesia has set a strategy to reduce the use of fossil energy, by converting fossils into renewable energy such as the gradual termination of coal-based power plants.," explained Rida.

Indonesia and Nordic countries have established good cooperation in the energy sector so far, both in a Government to Government and Business to Business.

At the government level, Indonesia has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Finland regarding sustainable, clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency. Together with Denmark regarding the development of EBT and energy conservation, Norway in the energy sector, Sweden about renewable energy and energy consultation with Norway.

"We have an Indonesia-Denmark Energy Partnership Program (INDODPP), and we also have a capacity development program and a potential geothermal initiative with Iceland," said Rida.

For information, in early 2022, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif accompanied by Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources officials had the opportunity to visit three Nordic countries to show Indonesia's desire to explore further and strengthen energy partnerships. At that time, the group met and discussed with local government officials and leading business leaders.

Minister Arifin has identified and recorded the possibilities to follow up on energy cooperation between Indonesia and Nordic partners and today's forum is a follow-up to concrete what was discussed at the previous meeting.