Energy in Indonesia


Energy in Indonesia describes energy and electricity production, consumption, import and export in Indonesia. In 2009 Indonesia produced oil, coal, natural gas and palm oil, utilised also as energy raw material in 2010. Renewable energy potential in Indonesia is high: solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy. Tropical rain forests and peat land areas have extensive coal storage. Indonesia is a geologically unstable country.
According to IEA Indonesia was the 10th top natural gas producer in 2009: 76 billion cubics 2.5% of world production of which 36 bcm was exported. In 2009 Indonesia was the 5th top coal producer: 263 million tonnes hard coal and 38 million tonnes brown. The majority of this, 230 Mt of hard coal, was exported. Indonesia has significant energy resources, starting with oil – it has 22 billion barrels of conventional oil and gas reserves, of which about 4 billion are recoverable. That's the equivalent of about 10 years of oil production and 50 years of gas. It has about 8 billion barrels of oil-equivalent of coal-based methane resources. It has 28 billion tonnes of recoverable coal and has 28 gigawatts of geothermal potential.

Overview

According to IEA energy production increased 34% and export 76% from 2004 to 2008 in Indonesia.

Energy by sources

Coal

Indonesia is well-supplied with medium and low-quality thermal coal. At current rates of production, Indonesia's coal reserves are expected to last for over 80 years. In 2009 Indonesia was the world's second top coal exporter sending coal to, for example, China, India, Japan and Italy. Kalimantan and South Sumatra are the centres of Indonesia’s coal mining. In recent years, production in Indonesia has been rising rapidly, from just over 200 mill tons in 2007 to over 400 mill tons in 2013. Recently, the chair of the said the production in 2014 may reach 450 mill tons.
The Indonesian coal industry is rather fragmented. Output is supplied by a few large producers and a large number of small firms. Large firms in the industry include the following:
Coal production poses risks for deforestation in Kalimantan. According to one Greenpeace report, a coal plant in Indonesia has decreased the fishing catches and increased the respiratory-related diseases,

Oil

Oil is a major sector in the Indonesian economy. During the 1980s, Indonesia was a significant oil-exporting country. Since 2000, domestic consumption has continued to rise while production has been falling, so in recent years Indonesia has begun importing increasing amounts of oil. Within Indonesia, there are considerable amounts of oil in Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and West Papua Province. There are said to be around 60 basins across the country, only 22 of which have been explored and exploited. Main oil fields in Indonesia include the following:
There is growing recognition in Indonesia that the gas sector has considerable development potential. In principle, the Indonesian government is supporting moves to give increasing priority to investment in natural gas. In practice, private sector investors, especially foreign investors, have been reluctant to invest because many of the problems that are holding back investment in the oil sector also affect investment in gas. At present, main potential gas fields in Indonesia are believed to include the following:
There is potential for tight oil and shale gas in northern Sumatra and eastern Kalimantan. There are estimated to be of shale gas and of shale oil which could be recovered with existing technologies. Pertamina has taken the lead in using hydraulic fracturing to explore for shale gas in northern Sumatra. Chevron Pacific Indonesia and NuEnergy Gas are also pioneers in using fracking in existing oil fields and in new exploration. Environmental concerns and a government-imposed cap on oil prices present barriers to full development of the substantial shale deposits in the country. Sulawesi, Seram, Buru, Irian Jaya in eastern Indonesia have shales that were deposited in marine environments which may be more brittle and thus more suitable for fracking than the source rocks in western Indonesia which have higher clay content.

Coal Bed Methane

With of Coal Bed Methane reserve mainly in Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia has potential to redraft its energy charts as United States with its Shale Gas. With low enthusiasm to develop CBM project, partly in relation to environmental concern regarding emissions of greenhouse gases and contamination of water in the extraction process, the government targeted per day at standard pressure for 2015.

Renewable energy sources

The contribution of renewable sources of energy to energy supply as a percentage of total primary energy supply in 2010 was 34.5%. Renewable generation sources supplied 5% to 6% of Indonesia's electricity in 2015. Indonesia has set a target of 23% of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2025.By November 2018, Indonesia had announced it was unlikely to meet the 23% renewable energy by 2025 target set in the Paris Accords.
In February 2020, it was announced that the People's Consultative Assembly is preparing its first renewable energy bill.

Biomass

An estimated 55% of Indonesia's population, i.e. 128 million people primarily rely upon traditional biomass for cooking. Reliance on this source of energy has the disadvantage that poor people in rural areas have little alternative but to collect timber from forests, and often cut down trees, to collect wood for cooking.
A pilot project of Palm Oil Mill Effluent Power Generator with capacity of 1 Megawatt has been inaugurated in September 2014. Indonesia has many Palm Oil Mills.

Hydroelectricity

Indonesia has set a target of 2 GW installed capacity in hydroelectricity, including 0.43 GW micro hydro, by 2025.

Geothermal energy

Indonesia uses some geothermal energy. According to the Renewable Energy Policy Network's Renewables 2013 Global Status Report, Indonesia has the third largest installed generating capacity in the world. With 1.3 GW installed capacity, Indonesia trails only the United States and the Philippines. However it leads Mexico, Italy, New Zealand, Iceland, and Japan. Current official policy is to encourage the increasing use of geothermal energy for electricity production. Geothermal sites in Indonesia include the Wayang Windu Geothermal Power Station and the Kamojang plant, both in West Java.
The development of the sector has been proceeding rather more slowly than hoped. Expansion appears to be held up by a range of technical, economic, and policy issues which have attracted considerable comment in Indonesia. However, it has proved difficult to formulate policies to respond to the problems.
Two new plants are slated to open in 2020, at Dieng Volcanic Complex in Central Java and at Mount Patuha in West Java.

Wind power

On average, low wind speeds mean that for many locations there is limited scope for large-scale energy generation from wind in Indonesia. Only small and medium generators are feasible. For Sumba Island in East Nusa Tengarra, according to NREL, three separate technical assessments have found that "Sumba’s wind resources could be strong enough to be economically viable, with the highest estimated wind speeds ranging from 6.5 m/s to 8.2 m/s on an annual average basis."
A very small amount of electricity is generated using wind power. For example, a small plant was established at Pandanmino, a small village on the south coast of Java in Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Province, in 2011. However it was established as experimental plant and it is not clear whether funding for long-term maintenance will be available.
Indonesia’s first wind farm opened in 2018, the 75MW Sidrap Wind Farm in Sindereng Rappang regency, South Sulawesi.

Solar power

The Indonesian solar PV sector is relatively underdeveloped but has significant potential. However, for a range of reasons, it is unlikely that it will be practical to expand electricity output from solar sources in Indonesia quickly. A range of technical, financial, economic and social constraints are likely to be constraints on the rapid installation of solar power in Indonesia, including in rural areas.
Output from the solar photovoltaic sector is almost exclusively set aside for decentralised rural electrification. In 2011 the sector produced a relatively small amount of electricity—only 22 MWh.

Use of energy

Transport sector

Much energy in Indonesia is used for domestic transportation. The dominance of private vehicles - mostly cars and motorbikes - in Indonesia has led to an enormous demand for fuel. Energy consumption in the transport sector is growing by about 4.5% every year. There is therefore an urgent need for policy reform and infrastructure investment to enhance the energy efficiency of transport, particularly in urban areas.
There are large opportunities to reduce both the energy consumption from the transport sector, for example through the adoption of higher energy efficiency standards for private cars/motorbikes and expanding mass transit networks. Many of these measures would be more cost-effective than the current transport systems. There is also scope to reduce the carbon intensity of transport energy, particularly through replacing diesel with biodiesel or through electrification. Both would require comprehensive supply chain analysis to ensure that the biofuels and power plants are not having wider environmental impacts such as deforestation or air pollution.

Electricity sector

Access to electricity
Over 50% of households in 2011 had an electricity connection. An estimated 63 million people in 2011 did not have direct access to electricity.
Organisations
The electricity sector, dominated by the state-owned electricity utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara, is another major consumer of primary energy.

Government policy

Major energy companies in Indonesia

Indonesian firms
Foreign firms
The CO2 emissions of Indonesia in total were over Italy in 2009. However, in all greenhouse gas emissions including construction and deforestation in 2005 Indonesia was top-4 after China, US and
Brazil.