Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.

Today's Headlines Electricity

  • Geothermal Energy in Indonesia: Yudhoyono Opens New Power Plants

    Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will be present at the official launch of four geothermal power plants (the Ulumbu, Ropa, Ndunga and Mataloko plants) on 11 September 2014 on Flores (East Nusa Tenggara). These plants will supply 20 megawatts of electricity to eight regencies on the island (West Manggarai, Manggarai, East Manggarai, Ngada, Nagekeo, Ende, Sikka and East Flores). Indonesia is estimated to have the world's largest geothermal energy reserves. However, the country only uses a fraction of its geothermal potential.

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  • Joko Widodo Aims to Cut Indonesia’s Expensive Energy Subsidies

    Soon-to-be president of Indonesia Joko Widodo (popularly known as Jokowi) stated that he intends to cut the large fuel and electricity subsidies once in office. Indonesia’s Revised State Budget of 2015 (RAPBN 2015) allocates IDR 363.5 trillion (about USD $31.2 billion) to energy subsidies. This figure accounts for about 18 percent of total government spending (IDR 2,019.9 trillion) set for 2015. Although the energy subsidies aim to support the poorer segments of Indonesian society, they cause complex problems in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.  

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  • Indonesia Investments' Newsletter of 17 August 2014 Released

    On 17 August 2014, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website in the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic topics such as the performance of the rupiah exchange rate, plantations, Freeport Indonesia, economic growth, electricity, property, guidelines for the construction of a PT PMA, and more.

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  • Electricity in Indonesia: Plenty Natural Resources but Shortage of Electricity

    Despite having abundant natural resources at its disposal (including coal and gas), Indonesia has difficulty to supply enough electricity to its people and businesses. Robust economic growth over the past decade has given rise to increased domestic demand for electricity but the country has not been able to adequately meet demand resulting in frequent blackouts and in one of the lowest electrification rates (the percentage of Indonesian households connected to the nation's electricity grid) in the region (about 80.4 percent at end-2013).

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  • Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) Posts Good Earnings in First Half 2014

    Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the state-owned utility company that has a monopoly on the distribution of electricity in Indonesia, recorded a 158 percent growth (year-on-year) in net profit to IDR 12.3 trillion (USD $1.1 billion) in the first half of 2014 due to improved operational efficiency and a foreign-exchange gain of IDR 4.4 trillion (USD $376 million). Meanwhile, the company's revenue increased 24 percent to IDR 145.1 trillion (USD $12.4 billion) as electricity sales increased and PLN received more subsidies from the Indonesian government.

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  • Supplying Electricity to Indonesians; Domestic Coal Consumption Rises

    Indonesian state-owned electricity firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said that Indonesia - Southeast Asia's largest economy - is expected to nearly double domestic consumption of thermal coal over the next eight years in an attempt to meet the nation's growing electricity demand. Moreover, coal, of which the country has huge reserves at its disposal, is regarded a better fuel source in electricity generation compared to expensive diesel. At present, many power stations in Indonesia are still diesel-powered.

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  • Higher Electricity Price Will Have Limited Impact on Indonesian Inflation

    Indonesian Finance Minister Chatib Basri expects that the higher electricity tariffs which may be introduced per 1 July 2014 (for 400-950 watt capacity) will have a relatively small impact on the pace of inflation in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. “If introduced, the higher electricity price may add 0.1 or 0.2 percentage point to inflation. The limited impact of this price hike on Indonesian inflation means that the government will not revise its inflation target for 2014 yet,” Basri said. The Indonesian government targets an inflation growth rate of 5.3 to 5.5 percent.

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  • Growing Fuel and Electricity Subsidies Burden Indonesia's State Budget

    One of Indonesia's main fiscal problems is the ever increasing amount of public funds spent on energy subsidies (these include fuels and electricity subsidies). These subsidies aim to support the poorer segments of Indonesian society but several studies conclude that it are in fact the middle class and elite segments that benefit the most of these energy subsidies. Furthermore, by keeping energy prices artificially low, the government distorts the economy by creating a more-or-less 'false economy'.

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  • General Electric Eyes Establishment of a Regional Hub in Indonesia

    US multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE) is exploring possibilities to establish a regional business hub in Indonesia due to the promising perspectives of both Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. Currently, Indonesia is the largest market for GE in Southeast Asia, accounting for roughly 30 percent of the company's revenue in this region (but Indonesia's regional peers are developing rapidly as well). However, GE Indonesia CEO Handry Satriago said that human resources form a problem.

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  • Manufacturing Industry of Indonesia also Expected to Slow in 2014

    The Indonesian government revised down its target for the country's manufacturing growth in 2014 to 6 percent year-on-year (yoy) from 6.4 to 6.8 percent (yoy) previously. Main reason for the downgrade was the lower than expected GDP growth result in the first quarter of 2014. Earlier this week, Statistics Indonesia announced that the Indonesian economy expanded 5.21 percent in Q1-2014, the slowest quarterly growth pace since the fourth quarter of 2009. Last year, Indonesia's manufacturing sector grew 6.19 percent (yoy).

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Latest Columns Electricity

  • Massive Electricity Blackouts in Java; A look at Indonesia’s Electrification Ratio & PLN's Performance

    On Sunday 4 August 2019 and Monday 5 August 2019 the capital city of Jakarta, a large part of West Java, and parts of Central Java were without electricity. On Sunday the power outage lasted from around noon to 21:00 pm, an unusually long period, while the following day the outage lasted for approximately six hours (depending on the exact location); also an unusually long period albeit not as long as on the preceding day.

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  • Indonesian Gov't Confused: Postpone Power Projects or Not?

    Based on the latest reports - and contrary to earlier plans - the Indonesian government will not postpone the development of 15,200 MW of power projects. Earlier the government said it wanted to delay various power projects in an effort to curtail imports, thus improve the country's current account balance and ease heavy pressures on the rupiah exchange rate.

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  • Indonesia Contains Great Potential for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

    As Indonesia is increasingly focusing on renewable energy sources, the potential of geothermal power in Indonesia is usually in the spotlight. However, the potential of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is seldom mentioned, while it is estimated that Indonesia's OTEC potential is around 41,000 megawatt (MW), among the biggest worldwide.

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  • Inflation Indonesia: Administered Price Adjustments Form Challenge

    The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) said it carefully monitors the impact of higher electricity tariffs on the nation's inflation pace in March 2017. This month the government implemented the second phase of its gradual electricity tariff increase program for 900-VA household customers. Indonesia's state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) decided to raise the electricity price for 900-VA households three times this year in order to cut energy subsidies and ensure that these subsidies are indeed channeled to the right people.

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  • Geothermal Energy Indonesia: Great Potential, Low Utilization

    Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has high hopes for the development of renewable energy, such as geothermal energy, in Indonesia. Given that fossil fuels are exhaustive and dirty, clean and renewable energy sources are the future. Therefore, Indonesia should make more use of its huge geothermal energy potential. Southeast Asia's largest economy is estimated to contain 40 percent of the world's total geothermal reserves. However, it only utilizes 5 percent of its geothermal energy capacity.

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  • Central Bank & Indonesia's Statistics Agency Expect Deflation in April 2016

    The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) expects to see deflation in April 2016 on the back of controlled food prices as the harvest season has arrived. Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo said a central bank survey shows deflation of 0.33 percent month-to-month (m/m) during the first three weeks of April. Besides lower food prices, Martowardojo also attributes April deflation to the government's decision to cut fuel prices (premium gasoline and diesel) by IDR 500 (approx. USD $0.04) per liter per 1 April. This move led to a 4 percent drop in public transportation tariffs.

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  • Indonesian Companies: Upstream Oil & Gas Services Provider Elnusa

    Elnusa is an Indonesian company that provides services in the upstream oil & gas sector. Although the oil & gas sector has been plagued by low prices, thus curtailing corporate earnings, there is something that makes Elnusa's position strong. Recently, Elnusa purchased a seismic vessel that can be used for marine seismic surveys for oil & gas exploration. In Indonesia only a few companies have the skills and equipment for marine seismic activities (and only a few companies have a seismic vessel). Moreover, Elnusa's new vessel is a modern one that is equipped to conduct high quality surveys in deep sea.

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  • Should Indonesia Relax the Mineral Ore Export Ban? No Says AP3I

    According to the Association of Indonesian Processing and Refining Companies (AP3I), consumption of mineral ores in Indonesia will be solid starting from 2017 due to the start of operations of new smelters. Jonathan Handojo, Vice Chairman of the AP3I, says domestic consumption of nickel ore will reach 7 million tons in 2017, roughly the same amount of nickel ore that was exported in 2009 before the New Mining Law - which stipulates a ban on exports of mineral ore from Indonesia (per January 2014) - was revealed.

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Associated businesses Electricity