Massive Energy Transition of Indonesia – Focus on Renewables

This is an important text because it details all the programs, policies, and targets of the Indonesian government for the national energy sector in the decade ahead. And it is PLN’s task to push for this all.

What Is PLN?

PLN is a (100 percent) state-owned company that holds a monopoly over electricity generation, transmission, and distribution across Indonesia. Its key role is to provide reliable and affordable electricity to all corners of the country, serving households, industries, and businesses. To achieve this role, PLN manages the nation's extensive power infrastructure, from operating power plants (using fossil fuels and renewable power sources) to maintaining a nationwide grid for transmission and distribution of power directly to consumers. In short, PLN is the backbone, ensuring Indonesia's energy security and supporting the nation’s economic development. Moreover, PLN is a key instrument for the Indonesian government to implement its national policies and strategic objectives related to energy and economic/social development.

What is the Electricity Supply Business Plan?

The Electricity Supply Business Plan of PLN (henceforth: RUPTL) is a key, long-term strategic document that outlines the company's development plans for the national electricity system over a ten-year period. And considering PLN is a fully state-owned company, it essentially outlines the central government’s plans.

RUPTL serves as the masterplan for how PLN will ensure sufficient electricity supply for the country's growing demand. This includes projections for (future) electricity demand as well as plans for constructing new power plants, transmission networks, and distribution infrastructure.

PLN is responsible for realizing the programs and targets outlined in every RUPTL. Consequently, it must submit quarterly progress reports to Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Meanwhile, and in line with global developments, a major focus of recent RUPTLs involves the acceleration of the energy transition in Indonesia (from fossil fuels to renewables). Particularly, the RUPTL 2025-2034 focuses on renewables.

The RUPTL also signals opportunities for private sector investment as Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are expected to contribute a big portion of total investment needs in new power generation projects across the Archipelago.

Ultimately, the RUPTL is designed to support Indonesia's economic growth targets, enhance national energy resilience, and contribute to achieving Net Zero Emissions (NZE) goals.

It’s interesting to note that between 2015 and 2019 PLN released an updated RUPTL each year. However, there then occurred a COVID-19 crisis-related two-year delay, with the next RUPTL being released in 2021. Then, after a four-year hiatus, the latest RUPTL (covering 2025-2034) was published.

It could be the case that the government wants to offer more certainty to investors by not revising the RUPTL every year. Indeed, if this long-term plan is changed each year, then the private sector is bound to be wary. As is widely known, investors want certainty, especially when it involves long-term and capital-intensive commitments in the energy sector. That certainly includes a stable regulatory framework.

However, it could also be the case that the government wanted to wait and see how the world would recover from the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis after this crisis triggered huge supply chain disruptions, construction delays, financing challenges, reduced energy demand, and policy uncertainty. A new reality had to crystalize first before any concrete plans could be drawn up.

Yet another explanation could be that the government of Indonesia has now become really serious about renewable energy development (whereas prior to 2019 it was simply only paying lip service). And what this change in stance subsequently means is that much more thorough research, coordination and planning is needed to come up with a realistic RUPTL, which obviously takes time.

A few words about the RUPTL’s legal framework. The RUPTL has to be ratified and approved by a Ministerial Decree from Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Meanwhile, the legal basis for electricity provision in Indonesia can be found in Law No. 30 of 2009 on Electricity, which was amended by Law No. 6 of 2023 on Job Creation. This law mandates that the electricity supply must be planned and managed to ensure national energy security and public welfare.

The RUPTL also has to align with other key energy-related government policies and programs, most importantly the National Energy Policy (Kebijakan Energi Nasional, KEN), and the National Electricity General Plan (Rencana Umum Ketenagalistrikan Nasional, or RUKN). These two involve much broader targets, and so the RUPTL can be regarded as a much more detailed operational plan aimed at achieving national targets.

Based on Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Decree No. 188.K/TL.03/MEM.L /2025 on the Approval of the Electricity Supply Business Plan of Perusahaan Listrik Negara for the Year 2025 to 2034, the RUPTL 2025-2034 came into effect on 26 May 2025. This also means that the previous RUPTL (2021-2030) was instantly revoked (as “the energy targets set in the previous RUPTL had run out of tune with the latest developments”).

Importance and Challenges of Energy Development in Indonesia

Energy is vital for social and economic development. A reliable and abundant energy supply is crucial to power industries, attract direct investment realization, support manufacturing, fuel transportation, facilitate further growth of the digital economy, accelerate poverty alleviation as well as job creation, and enhance food security.

Moreover, considering Indonesia is a developing country, demand for electricity is bound to grow robustly in the years to come as more and more people escape (near) poverty, and therefore are going to use increasingly more electric devices, such as air-conditioners, water heaters, smartphones, and perhaps even electric cars.

[...]

These are the first couple of pages of the report. The report, which consists of 58 pages, discusses the following topics (all based on PLN's RUPTL 2025-2034):

- Importance and Challenges of Energy Development in Indonesia
- Existing Power Capacity and Targeted Future Capacity
- Indonesia's Electrification Program
- Importance of and Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Developing PLN's Smart Grid
- Coal-Fired Power Plants
- Crude Oil
- Natural Gas
- Coal Bed Methane
- Liquefied Coal and Gasified Coal
- Hydrogen and Ammonia
- Nuclear Power
- Solar Energy
- Hydro Power
- Wind Energy
- Geothermal Power
- Biomass
- Electric Vehicle

You can order the report (an electronic report, PDF, in English) by contacting Indonesia Investments through:

- info@indonesia-investments.com
- +62(0)882.9875.1125

Price of this report:

Rp 150,000 (or equivalent in other currencies)

Take a glance inside the report here!

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