Have Promising Potential, Indonesia Will Build An Integrated Solar Panel Industry

JAKARTA - Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) Dadan Kusdiana revealed that the Indonesian government will build an integrated solar panel industry.

Dadan said the solar energy development project is expected to make Indonesia the largest solar energy producing country in the Southeast Asia region.

"There will be a big announcement regarding the launch of the integrated solar panel industry which will be delivered by the President at the end of the month (July) or early next month (August). Indonesia will probably be the largest in an area that has an integrated solar power industry in the region to support 23 percent EBT and net zero emissions," said Dadan, quoted Thursday, July 27.

Dadan explained that the government has collaborated with a number of ASEAN countries as strategic partners to create an integrated solar panel industry.

"This will help achieve the target of 23 percent of new renewable energy and net zero emissions. This will also help the region to achieve this target," he continued.

Dadan conveyed the opportunity for a cooperation plan to build an integrated solar panel industry, including investor partners and project development sites.

"Now we have secured partners, but I will not announce who. The discussion is very intense. We have visited there. They have visited here, there are already locations chosen. But later the president will announce it," said Dadan.

Regarding the scale of this project, Dadan said, the project has a fairly large scale above 10 gigawatts (GW).

"What is the scale like? What do we understand, this is big above 10 gigawatts, even above that. So this industry is very large, coming from (the country) a producer who has a significant market share contribution in the world of solar panels production," he said.

Dadan emphasized that solar power has a strategic role in accelerating energy transition efforts, especially in the Southeast Asia (ASEAN) region.

"Indonesia sees this solar as a strategic renewable energy source. We want to see that other renewable energy can provide a sizeable contribution to our energy mix. Indonesia is ready," he said.

Dadan said that as a tropical country, Indonesia has no issues about solar energy sources.

"Indonesia and Singapore share similar sources in terms of sunlight. The difference is, we have 2 million square kilometers, while Singapore has 700 square kilometers," he said.

Dadan said ASEAN also has a target portion of new and renewable energy (EBT) in the energy mix of 23 percent according to the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC).

"This is a common target, so at this time our target is to contribute," concluded Dadan.