House Member Criticizes New Renewable Energy Export Plan to Singapore
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21 September 2023 13:19 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government has inked an MoU between Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif and the Second Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore Tan See Leng in Jakarta. The MoU concerned the plan for new renewable electrical energy export to Singapore.
Responding to the agreement, House Member of Commission VII Mulyanto criticized the export plan, claiming it was irrelevant to the strategic framework of the national electrical energy resilience. "Just business-to-business cooperation bears no relation to the national electrical energy program," he said in a written statement on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Additionally, Mulyanto said, the domestic new renewable energy distribution is falling behind target. The ministry aimed for 23% new renewable energy plants by 2025. However, the capacity for new renewable energy plants in Indonesia only just reached 12.73 GW. The potential for national solar power plants also has only been utilized for 80 MW from its potential 33 GW. Meanwhile, the solar plants prepared for export to Singapore reached 600MW.
"We better focus our attention to the domestic performance [of new renewable energy] since it's still loose, rather than focusing on another country's electrical needs," Mulyanto said.
Mulyanto also sensed a conflict of interest in the agreement between Indonesia and Singapore. Namely the involvement of the family business of Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in the project.
Earlier at the Indonesia Sustainability Forum, Indonesia and Singapore agreed on a low-carbon energy and cross-border electrical interconnection agreement. Singapore is expected to import 2 GW of electricity from Indonesia, or half of its required imports by 2035.
ADE RIDWAN YANDWIPUTRA
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