November 18, 2024
JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto has highlighted Indonesia’s abundant natural resources as a foundation for national energy security, suggesting that the country could meet its entire energy needs without relying on fossil fuels.
“We have the fortune of being able to, in a few years, be completely self-sufficient in energy, self-sufficient in green energy. We will be, perhaps, one of the few countries that can achieve 100 percent renewable energy within a few years,” Prabowo said.
Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima on Thursday, the former defense minister explained that bioenergy played a key role for achieving complete energy independence.
The archipelago has the greatest geothermal energy potential in the world, as well as significant solar power potential, “but our main strength comes from bio-energy, from the plant-based fuel that we can produce,” the President said.
“We will be, I think, together with Brazil and maybe the [Democratic Republic of] Congo. We have the potential to produce fuel from plants, and this, I think, will create a lot of opportunities because we will save a lot on foreign exchange,” he added.
Despite his declared support for renewable energy, Prabowo added that the government was “also pushing for more exploration of oil and gas and other minerals”.
Prabowo is known in Indonesia as a big proponent of biofuel and promised during his campaign leading up to the presidential election in February this year to push for a higher mandatory biofuel content in diesel and gasoline blends. The aim is to roll out the use of a 50-percent biodiesel fuel (B50) and a 10-percent bioethanol fuel (E10) by 2029.
Domestically grown biomass could make Indonesia less dependent on fuel imports, but experts have pointed to the significant investment needed to scale up production and have questioned whether the final product would be cheaper than fuel from crude oil.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, have warned of the risks of converting vast tracts of land to cultivate sugarcane, corn or other plants as energy crops.
Industry groups have expressed concern that biofuel production may slash the country’s crude palm oil (CPO) exports, a key source of foreign exchange income, or reduce domestic cooking oil production.
Read also: More biofuel factories needed for B50 program: Ministry
In his APEC address, Prabowo stressed the need for countries to pursue communication as a way to address their differences and reiterated his determination for Indonesia “to be involved in the major economic organizations” of the world for the sake of mutual prosperity.
Just hours earlier, before his departure from a working visit to the United States, the President said he sought to maximize what Indonesia could gain from membership in multilateral organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the BRICS group of emerging economies.
Read also: Prabowo sees ‘no problem’ with joining OECD and BRICS
“I believe prosperity can only come from peace. Peace comes from understanding. Understanding comes from engagement and negotiation,” Prabowo said as he closed his APEC address.