Jakarta (VNA)꧟ – Indonesia wants to develop projects onnew energy sources such as nuclear, hydrogen and ammonia to achieve its NetZero Emissions (NZE) by 2060 or sooner, according to the Ministry ofEnergy and Mineral Resources (ESDM).

Yudo Dwinanda Priaadi, the Director General of New and RenewableEnergy and Energy Conservation of ESDM, said that the country can achieve theNZE target earlier than 2060 with international support through technologytransfer and sponsoring. Yudo said that Indonesia needs affordable new energy sourcesthat are accessible to everyone. He anticipated that by 2060, most of the energy used in thecountry will be solar energy but it will need batteries to store the energy. Southeast Asia's largest economy aims to reduce carbon emissionsby 29% by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2060. For its part, ESDMexpects the country will get a solar power capacity of 2.14 GW by 2030, ofwhich 0.64 GW in households, 0.74 GW in state-owned enterprises, and the restin industries. However, as of November 2022, Indonesia only had 6,461households install rooftop solar energy systems with a total installed capacityof 77.6 MW. That shows a big gap between the current growth rate and thedesired goal. Yudo said that they are serious about building the batteryecosystem and that Indonesia still needs to promote the expansion of theproduction of power sources like geothermal and hydroelectric power. ESDM also sees potential in new energy sources to help offset shortfallsin intermittent renewable energy. Therefore, according to Yudo, Indonesia plansto build a nuclear power plant that is expected to meet its domestic energyneeds. Indonesia’s National Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia (Batan)announced plans to develop large-scale nuclear power plant projects in severalareas in the country including Central Java province and Bangka Belitung. However, according to the Institute for Essential ServicesReform (IESR), the development of these projects faceddifficulties due to serious mistakes in design, environmental and financialissues. Meanwhile, according to ESDM, Indonesia is considered to havethe potential to become a global hub for green hydropower because of its largeuses of hydrogen in the ammonia industry and other industries. Currently, Indonesia's annual hydrogen production is 1.75million tonnes. However, green hydrogen is still relatively expensive due tofactors including high costs in electrolysis and renewable electricityproduction, and low renewable energy capacity./.