Indonesia may achieve 100% green power through solar energy in 2050

Indonesia is a tropical country with sunshine all year round. Indonesia ’s renewable energy full power generation has calculated that the countries’ solar energy potential is about 640,000 TWh per year. This is equivalent to 2,300 times the amount of electricity generated last year.

Despite the huge energy potential, there is still little investment in renewable energy industry. Therefore, solar energy accounted for only 1.7% of the country's total power generation last year.

Southeast Asia ’s largest economy produced 275 TWh of electricity from various power plants last year, with a total capacity of 69.1 GW. Coal, natural gas and diesel power plants provide nearly 90% of electricity. The rest comes from power plants using renewable energy: hydropower, wind, geothermal, solar and biofuels. It is expected that the rule of non-renewable energy power will continue until 2050.

The government predicts that the use of solar energy in electricity production will account for less than 10% of the total energy structure by 2050.

With abundant sunlight and unique terrain, Indonesia should be able to generate 100% green electricity from its solar energy by 2050. The government needs to develop attractive policies for customers and power suppliers to achieve this goal.

Indonesia's electricity consumption per capita is 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) in 2019, accounting for only 11% of Singapore's electricity consumption per capita.

Indonesia ’s National Power Master Plan states that by 2038, the country ’s electricity demand will reach 1,000 TWh, equivalent to 3.3 MWh per capita.

To meet demand in 2050, Indonesia needs a total capacity of 1,500 GW of solar photovoltaic power plants. Solar photovoltaics use photovoltaic modules to convert sunlight into electricity. It is expected that 230 MW of solar photovoltaics will be installed this year.

According to the analysis of the Micro Lithium Battery Group, as Indonesia has a large amount of solar energy, it will not be a problem to provide 2600 terawatt hours of electricity.

In order to install enough photovoltaics to meet the 2050 target, Indonesia needs at least 8,000 square kilometers, accounting for about 0.4% of the countries’ land area.

Indonesia has huge waters and is the largest archipelago in the world. It has lakes with an area of about 119,000km and territorial waters of about 290,000km.

In addition, most buildings can install solar panels on the roof. According to these plans, only 0.1% of the land in Indonesia is required to install solar panels.

The weighted average cost of large-scale solar photovoltaic investments worldwide is rapidly decreasing. Between 2010 and 2018, it fell by 77%.

In Australia, the cost of large-scale solar projects has dropped significantly from US $ 85 / MWh in 2015 to an estimated US $ 28-39 / MWh in 2020.

Indonesia has promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29-41% by 2030, and has also set an ambitious goal to double the renewable energy component, accounting for 23% of the countries’ energy mix, and generate electricity by 2025. It is expected to reach 31% by 2030.

According to the Jakarta Post, Indonesian factories will provide exclusive power to PT Golden Blossom in accordance with a 20-year power supply agreement. Construction of the facility is expected to begin in July and is scheduled for completion in March 2022. The newspaper did not specify the term "hybrid" mentioned in the project, but the planned grid location makes it possible to become a solar + storage facility.

Solar energy will continue to play a key role, and the report predicts that by 2024, solar and energy storage power generation projects will continue to spread.

Indonesia ’s broad and sustained sunshine, coupled with the sluggish and falling prices of solar photovoltaics, means that it is absolutely feasible for Indonesia to achieve 100% zero-emission renewable electricity in 2050.

From Google.com