Indonesia : Director General Gatrik Elaborates Strategy to Reduce GHG Emissions in the Electricity Sector

Director General of Electricity of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Jisman Hutajulu revealed that the government has a very strong commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as evidenced in the Enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (E-NDC) document by 2030.

Indonesia targets to reduce GHG emissions by 32% with its own efforts and by 41% with international assistance. This was revealed at an event organized by the Indonesian Electricity Society (MKI) entitled 'MKI's Coffee Morning: Building National Synergy to Achieve the NDC-2030 Target in preparing for the Transition to NZE - 2060' at Hotel Mulia Jakarta, Tuesday (21/3)

"The target of reducing GHG emissions in the energy sector in 2030 is 358 million tons of CO2 with its own capabilities and 446 million tons of CO2 with international assistance from the business as usual scenario," explained Jisman.

To realize the commitment to reduce GHG emissions, Jisman said that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has collaborated with other Ministries and Institutions, as well as related stakeholders to conduct modeling to produce an energy transition roadmap, which contains targets and milestones that Indonesia will take in terms of energy supply and demand to achieve Net Zero Emission by 2060 or sooner.

"Based on the road map, GHG emissions in the energy sector are projected to decrease by 93% from the business-as-usual scenario, where the remaining emissions produced are 129.4 million tons of CO2 in 2060," added Jisman.

For this reason, continued Jisman, several strategies are needed to accelerate in reducing GHG emissions in the energy sector. First, accelerate the construction of New Renewable Energy (EBT)-based power plants and interconnection through supergrids.

"On the energy transition roadmap, Indonesia's projected electricity demand in 2060 will reach 1,942 Tera Watt Hour (TWh) and per capita electricity consumption of 5,862 KWh. The electricity will be generated 100% from NRE with a total capacity of around 708 Giga Watt (GW) in 2060," explained Jisman.

The next strategy is to moratorium on Steam Power Plants (PLTU) and retire existing coal-fired power plants early. Then, apply the principles of energy efficiency massively. The fourth strategy is to encourage the use of electric vehicles and induction stoves en masse. Finally, namely by developing smart grids to overcome intermittency in variable renewable energy.

However, continued Jisman, to reduce GHGs in the energy sector is not an easy matter, because there are many challenges faced, such as funding infrastructure projects, expanding decarbonization, developing technology, to developing the capacity of human resources. "For this reason, we hope that the meeting held by MKI can produce and provide recommendations to the government in reducing GHGs and achieving NZE, especially in the electricity sector," he said. (AND)