There Are 6.2 Million New Jobs From The Energy Sector

Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Dadan Kusdiana (Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) claims that there will be an additional 6.2 million new jobs from the energy sector.

"The ESDM sector has the opportunity to create job opportunities for 6.2 million people," said Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Dadan Kusdiana, quoted Monday, July 28.

Dadan explained that one of the great job opportunities was driven by the increasing national electricity demand. Indonesia's electricity consumption is currently still at 1,337 kWh per capita per year, lower than Vietnam which reached 2,648 kWh. According to him, this is a signal that Indonesia must immediately increase the capacity of power plants to support economic growth and improve people's welfare.

"We, the electricity consumption is still low, meaning we need additional power plants. These are the figures that I convey, the numbers that invest 42.6 gigawatts (GW) green. This is a big number, a number that will require a very large chaser. The investment is 10 years ahead, RP1,682 trillion. This is what already exists, projects that are in PLN, will require labor, require production, and require services that will boost the domestic economy," explained Dadan.

Apart from the electricity sub-sector, Dadan also emphasized that downstreaming and increasing energy security will also encourage the opening of job opportunities for the community. He gave an example of the development of the EV battery ecosystem industry, which some time ago was groundbreaking by President Prabowo Subianto, because it didn't just make a battery factory.

"But from the upstream, from the dimbang, then processed, to the battery. Now this has something to do with energy resilience, because our energy resilience wants to encourage energy that is getting cleaner. Now we have good upstream potential, Indonesia is holding the largest reserves for nickel," he said.

Therefore, Dadan emphasized that job opportunities in the ESDM sector will not only be used to work in mines and power plants, but for all direct and indirect jobs.

"Because later there will be companies that provide food, there are companies that are for catering, there are companies for services, there are banks, there are others. Now we calculate conducting simulations, this is 6.2 million people. So don't worry, this energy sector will absorb a lot of labor," said Dadan.