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With over 120 RE100 members operating in Indonesia, the country is a priority market for the RE100 campaign. Our members have an electricity demand of 2.1 TWh in Indonesia, power that is committed to 100% renewable electricity by 2050 at the latest. With this in mind, RE100 returned to Indonesia in August 2024 off the back of a successful project scoping trip in February 2023.
RE100 team members were in Jakarta to develop our approach to policy advocacy in the country. At the end of 2023, we formalised a partnership with the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), making them the RE100 campaign partner for Indonesia. During our visit in August our main goal was to publicly launch RE100 in Indonesia and build awareness of our presence with local businesses and policymakers. We also convened our members operating in the market, to refine our policy focus areas and promote our work with influential corporate decision-makers.
Publicly launching our partnership
We formally launched our partnership at IESR’s Indonesia Solar Summit, hosted in collaboration with the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR). The event provided the perfect, high-profile platform to raise awareness of RE100 with key policy and business stakeholders.
Alongside opening remarks made by Sahid Junaedi, Secretary for DG Variable Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at MEMR, and a keynote speech by His Excellency Luhut B. Pandjaitan, previous Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Affairs, RE100 Senior Campaign Manager, Ross Mitchell, introduced RE100’s mission to the audience with IESR’s Executive Director, Fabby Tumiwa.
What’s more, RE100 was pleased to represent the needs of our members in closed-door meetings with the previous Coordinating Minister Luhut, on a panel discussion alongside PLN representatives (Indonesia’s state-owned utility company), and in media interviews.
Developing our priorities
A key priority for the team was better understanding current renewables policy in Indonesia and where RE100’s policy advocacy work can be most impactful. As documented by MEMR, Indonesia has immense renewables potential, but at the end of 2021, only 0.3% of it was realised. Policy barriers and a lack of ambition on renewables are currently fundamentally undermining Indonesia’s commitment to net zero by 2060.
To learn more about how this impacts the renewables market, we met with over 15 organisations from civil society, advisory services, diplomacy and business associations. This built a strong picture of the renewables landscape, providing us with strategic insights which we took into an RE100 Members Meeting.
Member input on the direction of our work is critical to make sure we are utilising their expertise, and to build member support for our policy advocacy activities. As such, we met with 20 representatives from 11 different RE100 member businesses. A fruitful and engaging workshop took place, and we were pleased to find that our earlier research into priority policy areas aligned with the priorities of members. The meeting resulted in a draft plan for our policy work, including unanimous agreement on three key policy barriers, which if addressed would help unlock corporate investment in renewables in Indonesia.
High-level political engagement
Based on the direction from our members, RE100 will focus its Indonesia policy advocacy work on the following three areas: Increased renewables ambition, asking the government to set a 34% renewable energy target for 2030; increasing the amount and pace of new renewable projects coming onto the grid; and creating an electricity market that allows more direct sourcing options between corporate buyers and electricity producers, with an emphasis on passing legislation on power wheeling.
Following our trip, in September 2024, Helen Clarkson, CEO of Climate Group, sent a letter to President Joko Widodo on behalf of RE100’s 430+ members, also copying in the new President, His Excellency Prabowo Subianto. The letter encouraged the Indonesian government to increase its ambition on renewables in the National Energy Plan to unlock and capitalise on private investment in renewables, bridging Indonesia’s significant renewables investment gap.
Alongside policymaker engagement at the Indonesia Solar Summit, our team met privately with key Indonesian ministries working on the energy transition. We held bilateral meetings with the Green Industrial Centre, who work on standards for green industry in Indonesia, the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JET-P) Secretariat who are working on implementing the Indonesian JET-P, and the Directorate for New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation within MEMR. In these meetings we introduced RE100 and how through addressing particular policy barriers, Indonesia could attract significant private sector investment in the country’s energy transition.
Looking forward
RE100’s priority is continuing to build our relationships with policymakers in Indonesia. RE100 welcomes the new Indonesian administration to office and stands ready to assist them in unlocking corporate renewable electricity procurement.
We’re also actively calling on Indonesian headquartered companies to join our campaign and demonstrate leadership in the energy transition. One of the key levers of influence for RE100 is our members, and we look forward to welcoming Indonesian companies to the initiative to build the domestic demand signal for renewables. If you’re an existing member, or are interested in joining, please reach out to Laura Thomas, Senior Policy Officer, RE100.