Energy Transition in the Spotlight! Activists Reveal Alleged EBT Project Information Leak

Illustration (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - In the midst of accelerating the national energy transition agenda, the issue of energy project governance has once again become the spotlight. The Energy Youth Movement revealed allegations of misuse of the Indonesian Renewable Energy Society (METI) organization as a tool for negotiating renewable energy projects (EBT).

The National Coordinator of the Energy Youth Movement, Ronal Jefferson, said that the institution, which should be a space for consolidating ideas and strengthening clean energy, was allegedly hijacked for the interests of certain groups.

"METI is suspected of serving as external legitimacy among business actors of energy projects," Ronal said in his statement, quoted Friday, February 27.

He assessed that there were indications of conflicts of interest in a number of large-scale EBT projects. Strategic information on projects that should be confidential is said to flow to certain parties who have close ties to the organizational structure.

According to him, the procurement process which should be competitive is indicated to be influenced by external networks, including the alleged abandonment of the similarity of shareholder affiliation between participants and the adjustment of requirements that give special treatment.

"This practice has implications for the integrity of the procurement system and has the potential to cause financial losses to the state," he said.

The Energy Youth Movement also urged law enforcement, from the National Police Chief, the Attorney General's Office to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to thoroughly investigate energy projects that are said to have been facilitated by METI.

According to Ronal, the energy transition agenda must not be a cover for rent-seeking. "Clean energy can only be born from a clean system and governance," he said.