The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia and Hitachi Energy sign Letter of Intent for green energy technology development

The government is committed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the energy sector by 358 million tons of CO2 or 12.5 percent with its own effort, or 446 million tons of CO2 or 15.5% with international assistance by 2030 according to the National Determined Contribution (NDC) document. Furthermore, the government is aiming to reach Net Zero Emission (NZE) by 2060 or sooner.

To pursue these achievements, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) is collaborating with Hitachi Energy to carry out the signing of a Letter of Intent (LoI) related to the development of environmentally friendly technology carried out by Acting Secretary General of MEMR Dadan Kusdiana with Regional Head South Asia Hitachi Energy, N Venu.

The signing of the LoI is a follow-up to the meeting between the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif and Hitachi Energy Global CEO Mr. Claudio Facchin in Zurich, Switzerland, in January this year.

According to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif, it is predicted that Indonesia's electricity demand will reach 1,942 TWh in 2060. To supply this demand, the Indonesian government has also made a roadmap to build 700 GW of power plants from renewable energy sources by 2060.

"To achieve this, we need support in terms of technology, industry and infrastructure from all stakeholders," Arifin said.

Arifin added that a major challenge in providing renewable energy-based electricity is the country’s diverse energy sources, given that Indonesia is an archipelago.

Therefore, the government has also devised a national super grid program to connect the islands, particularly the major ones. " Currently, we are working on connecting the northern part of Sumatra to the eastern part of Java,” he added.

Furthermore, Arifin emphasized that accelerating this program underlines the need of collaboration and cooperation with all stakeholders, both nationally and internationally, with Hitachi Energy being one of them.

On the same occasion, Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources Dadan Kusdiana in his report said that the LoI between the Ministry and Hitachi Energy is to accelerate the energy transition in Indonesia.

"The agreement between the two parties is to transfer knowledge, joint studies, and technology development solutions, especially in the field of electricity infrastructure," he explained.

Meanwhile, CEO of Hitachi Energy Claudio Facchin said “Accelerating the energy transition is key to carbon neutrality and addressing the urgency of the climate emergency. With electricity as the backbone of the energy system, the power grid will play a critical role, and this is also the case with Indonesia.”

“We are pleased to further strengthen our long-standing relations in Indonesia and support the government to achieve its ambitious targets. The focus areas of this technical collaboration include integration of renewables, interconnectors, power quality, grid edge technologies as well as digital solutions to handle new supply and demand complexities. This is a good example of collaboration to achieve our common objective of advancing a sustainable energy future for all,” he added.

In addition to the LoI signing event, a workshop was held in the morning session at the Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources and afternoon session at the Pullman Hotel attended by around 150 participants consisting of representatives of the Ministry, the nation’s utility, PLN, practitioners, associations, and academia.

As a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all. Hitachi Energy has been present since 1980s, supporting electricity infrastructure in Indonesia.

Hitachi Energy has also been involved in several energy transition projects in Indonesia. One of them was the 220 MW Rantau Dedap geothermal plant in South Sumatra providing carbon-free electricity to the Sumatra grid. In addition, the company had also implemented Grid Edge solutions in several regions, including Microgrids in Semau, Selayar and Nusa Penida islands which had helped meet the needs of 20% in electricity demand during the last G20 Summit.