Legal barriers stunting Indonesia’s renewable energy growth

Needs legal breakthrough to boost RE.

Rida Mulyana, director general of new and renewable energy at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said Indonesia needs to remove many legal barriers if it wants to boost development in alternative energy sources such as geothermal, solar and hydropower.

As an example, he said the Forestry Law should be revised to accelerate the development of geothermal power plants. Without a legal breakthrough, much of the geothermal reserves cannot be developed because they contravene the Forestry Law, he noted.

The Forestry Law bans open pit mining in protected forests. Rida believes geothermal exploration activities should be exempted from the law because unlike mining, geothermal drilling will not damage the environment.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said 70% of Indonesia’s total electricity is generated from oil and coal-fired power plants, compared to just 5% generated from renewable energy sources.

Indonesia has 40% of the world’s geothermal reserves, with a total geothermal energy potential placed at 29 GW.