Energy Minister Issues Regulation on Rooftop Solar Power Plants

Rooftop Solar Power Plants in Minahasa, North Sulawesi province. (Photo by: Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources)

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif has issued Regulation Number 26 of 2021 on Rooftop Solar Power Plants Connected to Power Grid of Business License Holder for Public Power Supply.

The Regulation is part of the Government’s measures to achieve the target for 23 percent renewable energy rate by 2025.

“Ministerial Regulation Number 26 of 2021 on Rooftop Solar Power Plants will be implemented and supported by all stakeholders, in line with the coordination meeting chaired by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs on January 18, 2022,” the Ministry’s Director General for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Dadan Kusdiana said as quoted by the Ministry’s official website on Saturday (01/22).

Based on the projections made by Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the target of Rooftop Solar Power Plants of 3.6 gigawatts, which will be implemented in several stages until 2025, will bring positive impact on the following sectors:

1. Potential to provide 121,500 jobs;
2. Potential to increase investment by Rp45 to 63.7 trillion for development of Solar Power Plants and Rp2.04 to 4.1 trillion for the procurement of kilowatt-hour meter;
3. Encouraging the growth of the supporting industries of Solar Power Plants and increasing competitiveness with the increasing level of the local content (TKDN);
4. Encouraging green products in service sector and green industry to avoid carbon border tax at the global level;
5. Reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 4.58 million tons of CO2e; and
6. Potential to get revenue from the sale of Carbon Economic Value of Rp0.06 trillion/year (assuming a carbon price of 2 United States Dollars/ton CO2e).

The most important provisions of Regulation Number 26 of 2021 are:
1. The electricity export is increased from 65 percent to 100 percent;
2. Accumulated gap in claims is eliminated, extended from 3 months to 6 months;
3. The application period for Rooftop Solar Power Plants is shorter (5 days without an adjustment to the Electricity Purchase Agreement (PJBL) and 12 days with an adjustment to the PJBL);
4. Application-based service mechanism for the convenience of submitting applications, as well as reporting and supervising the Rooftop Solar Power Plants program;
5. Carbon trading opportunities from the Rooftop Solar Power Plants;
6. Availability of the Rooftop Solar Power Plants Complaint Center to receive complaints from Rooftop Solar Power Plants customers or business license holders; and
7. Expansion of regulation not only for customers of the state electricity company PLN but also for customers in non-PLN Business Areas (Business license holders).

For the record, the service process for the Rooftop Solar Power Plants system during the transition period is still carried out manually. (PR of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources/UN) (RI/MMB)