President Jokowi Inaugurates Poso Energy, Malea Energy Hydropower Plants
President Jokowi
As part of his working visit in Central Sulawesi province, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Friday (02/25) inaugurated 515-megawatt Poso Energy Hydropower Plant in Poso regency and 90-megawatt Malea Energy Hydropower Plant in Tana Toraja regency, Central Sulawesi province.
According to the Head of State, the construction of these power plants will support the transition to renewable energy.
“This morning I am very happy we will inaugurate a hydropower plant, which means green energy, which means renewable energy,” he said, adding that all countries are currently urged to shift the use of fossil energy, especially coal, to green energy.
The President also pointed out that Indonesia has potential energy of 418 gigawatts in the form of hydropower, geothermal power, solar power, wind power, tidal power, and ocean thermal energy conversion.
“We have everything in our country. The question is how can we shift from coal to green energy. This is not an easy work because we already have too many steam power plants,” he said, while expressing appreciation to business sectors that have built renewable energy generators, such as the hydropower plants in Poso and Tana Toraja.
“I highly respect, appreciate what Kalla Group has done in building hydropower [plants] in Central Sulawesi and those that will be completed in Mamuju regency and Kerinci regency,” he said, adding that Indonesia has targeted a 29 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emission by 2030 and zero carbon emission by 2060.
“These targets are not easy to achieve because we must continue to balance the growth of demands and electricity. We must avoid supply excess from the National Electricity Company (PLN) that can burden the PLN,” he said.
On that occasion, the President also reminded PLN and other related institutions to manage the prevailing bureaucratic system so that they can support the development of renewable energy in the country.
“Let me underscore this morning that we must pay attention to bureaucracy, especially in the PLN, President Director. There must not be any more complaints, as what Bapak Jusuf Kalla has said, that licensing negotiation took more than five years. That is only for obtaining the license, not to mention funding from consortium banking. It is not easy,” he said, while expressing hope that the construction of renewable power plants can continue to be carried out so that demands for green energy can be fulfilled.
“I hope the next constructions can run smoothly so we can actually achieve our target of green energy and renewable energy because obtaining green energy is a very high industrial demand to our country,” he remarked. (FID/UN) (DH/EP)
