Indonesia Energy

Long known for maintaining low fuel prices despite its large population, Indonesia has recently begun to take meaningful steps to reform a decades-old policy that has bloated federal budgets and often fallen short of its purported aim of helping the less fortunate. Policymakers in Indonesia, as in many countries around the world, have long seen energy subsidies as a quick and...

Although the focal point of renewable energy development in Indonesia has been geothermal resources, of which the country holds over a third of the global total, in recent years solar power has gained new attention as a viable source. As an equatorial country, Indonesia is well-placed to reap the benefits of new solar options, with off-grid projects offering new ways to...

As Indonesia’s economy keeps chugging along with annual growth rates around 6% in recent years, its appetite for energy continues to expand in parallel. Demand for primary energy hit 130m tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 2013, and GDP growth of 8% a year through to 2025 forecast by the National Energy Council (NEC) is expected to push growth in energy consumption up to 7.3%...

After years of treading water, Indonesia’s energy sector is finding new optimism in the fresh faces being appointed to key government positions by the new president, Joko Widodo, with the hope that they will be able to renew investor interest in the industry and spur a wave of development. The changes at the top come at a critical time, as myriad factors continue to buffet the...

With the spectre of an electricity shortfall looming larger with each passing year, the Indonesian government is looking to coal-fired thermal power plants to provide a quick and easy solution. Coal has many advantages over other forms of power generation in Indonesia: it is cheaper, more established technologically and abundant. It is also seen as preferable to diverting...