Recently, the Indonesian government officially approved the 2025-2034 Power Supply Plan (RUPTL) of the state electricity company, PLN. Bahlil Lahadalia, Indonesia’s Minister of Investment and Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board, stated that the plan’s objectives are aligned with the Paris Agreement. Amidst some countries’ withdrawals from climate commitments globally, Indonesia remains committed to the energy transition, taking into account its capabilities, energy resources, and economic factors to continuously advance global temperature control goals.
According to the plan, PLN will drive the addition of 69.5 GW of new power capacity by 2034, with 76%, or approximately 42.6 GW, coming from renewable energy sources. Solar photovoltaic leads the renewable energy mix at 17.1 GW, followed by hydropower at 11.7 GW and wind power at 7.2 GW. Additionally, there will be 5.2 GW of geothermal energy and 0.9 GW of biomass power. The remaining 26.9 GW of capacity will be sourced from natural gas (10.3 GW), coal (6.2 GW), and two planned small modular nuclear reactors (totaling 0.5 GW), with nuclear projects to be built in Sumatra and Kalimantan. It is projected that by 2034, the share of renewable energy in Indonesia’s power structure will increase from the current 12% to 35%.
Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), a local energy think tank, pointed out that the 2.8 GW of coal power included in the plan will continue operating beyond 2030, which contradicts Indonesia’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060 at the latest. Meanwhile, the 42.6 GW renewable energy target in RUPTL falls short of Indonesia’s external commitment of 56 GW by 2030 under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) framework and does not meet the climate requirement of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Tumiwa also mentioned that PLN faces challenges with natural gas supply constraints, and developing large-scale renewable energy is a lower-risk and more economically viable option that contributes to system reliability and reduces energy costs for the public.
In addition to increasing the share of clean power, the Indonesian government has also unveiled a “Large-Scale Grid Upgrade” plan, regarded as a foundational support for the energy transition. As an archipelagic country with a dispersed geographical structure, Indonesia faces significant challenges in building a unified power grid. RUPTL proposes that by 2034, PLN will construct nearly 48,000 kilometers of new transmission lines and establish 108,000 MVA of substation capacity to achieve regional interconnection and universal power access. Bahlil emphasized that energy is a manifestation of fairness and justice, and President Prabowo has instructed immediate electrification of villages that remain without power, aiming to complete this goal by 2029. Through the “Village Electrification Program,” over 5,700 remote villages will be connected, covering nearly 780,000 households. Nuki Agya Utama, Executive Director of the ASEAN Centre for Energy, believes that Indonesia should achieve long-distance connectivity through inter-island submarine cables, despite the numerous challenges involved.
