Prabowo Pushes for All-Renewable Energy Future With Increased Plant Construction Efforts

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto targets the use of 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. He conveyed this commitment during his visit to Brazil last week in a joint press statement with Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at the Planalto Palace, Brasilia.

A similar message was also expressed by Prabowo at the G20 forum. He also stated plans to add 75 gigawatts of renewable energy and accelerate the Net Zero Emissions target to 2050. "The target is, of course, 2040, but my experts say that we can achieve it much faster," he said, as quoted from an official statement on July 10, 2025.

However, this ambitious target demands substantial financing and concrete policy reforms. In the General Electricity Supply Plan (RUPTL) 2025-2034, the government targets 61 percent of the energy mix to come from renewable sources. Around 24 percent still comes from fossil fuel power plants such as coal and gas.

To achieve this, the government needs to early retire a number of coal-fired power plants, cancel the development of fossil fuel power plants in the RUPTL list, and build large-scale renewable energy power plants.

Tata Mustasya, Executive Director of the Indonesian Sustainable Welfare Foundation (SUSTAIN), stated that the development of renewable energy power plants in the period of 2025-2029 needs to be accelerated by 4.5 times, and by 11 times in 2030-2034 compared to the current pace.

According to Tata, financing poses the greatest challenge. He explained, "SUSTAIN has calculated the potential funding that can be used to accelerate the development of renewable energy, namely from the additional coal production levy plus investment from China, which can finance a minimum of Rp 819.6 trillion for the 10-year RUPTL financing."

SUSTAIN noted that the coal levy has the potential to generate Rp 675.6 trillion, while investments from China through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could contribute Rp 144 trillion. This funding is sufficient for approximately 77 percent of the needs for private power plant development, transmission networks, and distribution during the Prabowo administration (2025-2029).

Nevertheless, Tata believes that these two funding sources are not sufficient. He urges the government to reform fiscal and energy policies to be more supportive of energy transition. For example, in 2023, renewable energy investment in Indonesia only reached US$1.5 billion, while the RUPTL requirement reached US$105.2 billion or around Rp 1,682 trillion.

Tata also suggests that the Danantara Investment Management Agency should manage these two funding sources. "Danantara can manage these two funding sources to be directly used for the development projects of renewable energy listed in the RUPTL," he said.

Annisa Febiola contributed to this article.

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