Getting to 23 Per Cent

In January 2019, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan reiterated that the government remains committed to increasing the use of renewable energy in the national energy mix, in line with their commitment during the 21st Conference of the Parties to reduce GHG emissions (Republic of Indonesia, 2016). [...] Although coal is said to be the cheapest energy source, the government should take a more holistic approach when calculating the cost impact of large-scale coal utilization by including the cost of externalities and the implication of capacity charges for unutilized coal power. [...] There are four issues that inhibit the development of more solar power in Indonesia: • The inability of the grid to absorb large amounts of intermittent power One of the most common concerns expressed by PLN about solar power is that the grid is not currently capable of absorbing a significant amount of intermittent power. [...] One of the reasons for the very slow progress of solar power is actually the regulations issued to try to encourage the use of solar power. [...] As long as the levelized cost of electricity of rooftop solar is lower than that of the grid when evaluated without the above restrictions, then every unit of rooftop solar reduces the overall cost for the country as a whole.