IBC Boss Express Indonesia's Challenge Towards NZE: Need Investment IDR 231 Trillion

President Director of PT Industri Battery Indonesia Toto Nugroho. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Industri Battery Indonesia or Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) Toto Nugroho revealed that the challenges that Indonesia must face towards net zero emissions (NZE).

According to him, large efforts are needed to support the government in realizing clean energy in Indonesia.

He explained that the challenge that must be faced is how to produce nickel into battery products that will be used for electric vehicles, because it costs a lot of money.

For this reason, he admitted that he needed an investment of 15 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 321 trillion.

"The challenge faced towards NZE is how to produce nickel into batteries which of course requires not only technology but also a very large investment of around 15 billion dollars," he said at the SOE Commitment on Net Zero Emission, Tuesday, October 18.

Toto added, to obtain investment and succeed in the development of an electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia, his party needs partners and more than 2000 MW of clean energy.

Currently, IBC has obtained two partners who will invest in PT Aneka Tambang Tbk and Chinese company PT Ningbo Contemporary Brunp Lygend Co. Ltd (CBL) as well as a Korean company LG Energy Solution.

According to him, Indonesia is predicted to be one of the big players in the field of the electric vehicle ecosystem.

"Why? Because Indonesia's natural resources are very abundant. We have nickel, then Indonesian aluminum also has a large market share for the automotive industry. We have a car market of 1.5 million vehicles per year and a motorcycle of 8 million units per year," he explained.

Toto explained that the direction of developing the electric vehicle ecosystem is not only an energy transition and reduces carbon emissions, but also encourages new jobs.

"Why should we encourage the acceleration of the electric vehicle ecosystem? Yes, because we have raw materials, the realization of the growth of the automotive industry and we have the supply chain capacity to be automotive in Indonesia," he added.

Through this electric vehicle ecosystem, said Toto, his party is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9 million metric tons and import fuels by 29.4 million barrels per year.

IBC itself is a consortium company consisting of four SOEs, namely MIND ID, PT Pertamina (Persero), PT PLN (Persero), and PT Aneka Tambang (Antam).