Bahlil's Surprising Answer To Tesla's Investment In Indonesia Just A False Hope: Mr. Luhut At The Coordinating Ministry For Maritime Affairs And Fisheries Who Knows Better

Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The news that Tesla wants to invest in Indonesia has been circulating since the end of last year. This news emerged after President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) spoke with Elon Musk by telephone in December 2020. However, until now there is no certainty regarding the realization of the investment.

When asked about Tesla's investment, the Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM, Bahlil Lahadalia said that there was no certainty. He said that the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan was the one who was more aware of the latest updates or news on investment developments.

"As for Tesla, this incident is handled directly by the team at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, maybe the details are those who know, we also know but it's not up to date, the Coordinating Ministry knows better," he said in a virtual press conference, Friday, September 17.

Previously, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan confirmed that investment talks with Tesla were still ongoing. He said Tesla was pursuing the government to be able to invest in Indonesia.

However, Luhut was reluctant to talk in detail about the continuation of investment talks with Tesla. This is because the government is bound by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

"We are not a bad country, last night, yesterday, some time ago, we kept Tesla chasing us, we discussed it. Don't be fooled, we will be wrong again, we have signed the NDA because of that," said Luhut, in the 2021 BPPT National Working Meeting which broadcast on YouTube, March 9th.

Tesla is not interested in building a battery factory in Indonesia

President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Nicke Widyawati revealed that Tesla was not interested in building an electric battery factory in the country. He said, Tesla actually wanted to develop an energy storage system (ESS) or aka an energy storage system.

Nicke's statement also answered public questions after Tesla reportedly chose to build an electric car factory in India rather than in Indonesia.

"Tesla is interested in energy storage, not in electric vehicle batteries," he said, during a hearing with Commission VII, Tuesday, February 9.

Nicke said Tesla's interest in developing domestic ESS was due to plans to increase the number of solar power plants (PLTS) in bulk in Indonesia. With the increasingly massive PLTS, the supply of electricity to ESS will be more reliable, so it is considered an attractive business for Tesla.

"He (Tesla) came to Indonesia to see the potential to maintain reliable supply from PLTS is ESS, this is a big market," he said.

This is in line with what was conveyed by the Deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Septian Hario Seto, on February 5.

Seto said that the investment plan proposal offered by Tesla was different from other potential partners, namely a Chinese company, CATL, and a South Korean company, LG. He said this difference is because the basic technology used by Tesla is different from the other two companies.

According to Seto, Tesla is likely to invest in the energy storage system (ESS). This ESS is like a 'power bank' with a large-scale gigabyte battery that can store large amounts of electricity up to tens of mega watts, even up to 100 MW for stabilizers or as a substitute for peaker generators (peak load support).

Furthermore, Seto explained, at night when people's electricity consumption is high, this can take advantage of this ESS. In addition, Tesla said that Indonesia, which is an archipelagic country, has the potential to combine new renewable energy with this ESS technology.

"They told us that their demand side with other countries is very high, but the supply of ESS is not much. If they want to cooperate with Indonesia and an archipelagic country, they can combine ESS technology in Indonesia," said Seto.