There Are Still 5,700 Unelectricized Villages, Bahlil Focuses On Fixing Electrification Equity

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia. (Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia emphasized the government's commitment to overcoming the imbalance in access to electricity in Indonesia.

He revealed, the fact that there are still 5,700 villages and 4,400 hamlets that have not enjoyed electricity lighting.

This figure is the result of the findings of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources during a working visit to several remote locations, including Papua and Sulawesi. Bahlil emphasized that equitable availability of quality energy is still a big homework, especially in rural areas and small islands.

Bahlil's personal story is a reflection of the importance of energy justice for every child of the nation.

"In my opinion, what we are doing is a big investment for equity and at the same time to break through access for all people in Indonesia," he said, quoted Friday, August 1.

To realize this hope, Bahlil collaborated with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Mendiktisaintek) in formulating an electrification acceleration strategy. He emphasized that electricity is not only a matter of lighting, but also a fundamental key to education in the digital era.

"Electricity is very important in the digitalization era for all schools now. In villages, in villages every village has one school. So if there is no electricity, how do we talk about digitalization education at the school level," he said.

Bahlil added that this acceleration initiative was in line with the direction of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

"It's enough for me, who used to go to school, there was no electricity. And this is a commitment of the President as well, to immediately formulate and carry out it. So I am carrying out what the President ordered," he said.

This big plan is contained in the PLN Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL) for the period 2025-2034, which targets the addition of a national power plant capacity of 69.5 GW.

Of this amount, 76 percent of the capacity comes from New Renewable Energy (EBT), which is 42.6 GW and 10.3 GW storage, where this generating model is ideal for reaching remote areas.

In addition, 67 percent of priority downstream projects and energy security are projected to be outside Java, in order to encourage equitable development throughout the archipelago.