The national Consumer Protection Agency for the Republic of Indonesia (BKPN) will coordinate at least US$1 billion in investment for off-grid solar-plus-storage.
China-headquartered battery manufacturer and energy storage solutions provider Elong Power announced this week (8 July) that it has entered a strategic cooperation agreement with BKPN to promote the technology for rural and island areas.
While the agreement does not constitute a binding commitment for the purchase of products or services from Elong Power, it does set out an intent for BKPN to coordinate with relevant national agencies to invest US$1 billion or more into constructing integrated off-grid solar-plus-storage power systems, which Elong Power would provide.
According to Elong Power, the Consumer Protection Agency will also formulate policies to promote large-scale lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery energy storage system (BESS) adoption and clean energy solutions for Indonesia’s mining sector.
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The Chinese company, founded in 2014 in Jiangxi and listed on the US NASDAQ exchange since last year, would potentially provide technical support and product solutions in those areas. Elong Power would also seek to find sources of investment from other Chinese energy companies into the Southeast Asian country.
The agreement follows the Indonesian government’s ratification of the national electricity supply business plan from state-owned monopoly electric power distributor PLN a couple of months ago.
Adopted in late May, the PLN Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL) for 2025-2034 targets the addition of 69.5GW of new energy generation by PLN by that date, including 42.6GW of renewable energy. As reported by sister site PV Tech, PLN would also deploy 10.3GW of energy storage by that time.
Currently, around 80% of Indonesia’s electricity is generated by fossil fuels while the biggest share of renewables comes from hydroelectricity. The plan would add a further 11.7GW of hydropower along with 17.1GW of new solar PV, 7.2GW of wind, 5.2GW of geothermal and 0.9GW of bioenergy.
The plan would result in renewables comprising 35% of the energy mix by 2034, with Indonesia targeting net-zero emissions by 2060. One energy sector think tank, the Institute for Essential Services Reform, which is based in Indonesia, said, however, that the continued operation of 2.8GW of coal generation contained in the plan was inconsistent with the net-zero target.
The plan also aimed to make significant transmission system upgrades to enable better electricity access for remote villages, including nearly 48,000km of new lines, with the aim to complete the works by 2029. However, enabling universal grid access across a country with over 900 permanently inhabited islands could involve costly subsea interconnectors and off-grid solar PV combined with energy storage could be a more viable option for many of those regions.
BKPN does not appear to have made a public announcement of the agreement with Elong Power or provided details of how it would fit alongside the RUPTL plan as yet.
Technology provider Elong Power produces high-power batteries and packs for heavy trucks and logistics vehicles, as well as BESS for large-scale and commercial & industrial (C&I) applications.
The announcement comes just a few days after a subsidiary of fellow Chinese company CATL—the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery manufacturer and a maker of integrated BESS solutions—began construction of a US$6 billion battery materials, recycling and manufacturing project in two regions of Indonesia with local partners including the Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC). PLN is one of four joint owners of IBC along with three other state-owned enterprises.
In other news from Indonesia this year, Singapore-headquartered engineering firm Sembcorp launched a utility-scale solar-plus-storage project in a joint venture with PLN.
Republic of Indonesia president Prabowo Subianto attended an event to mark the launch of the 50MW solar PV, 14.2MWh BESS project in Nusantra, Borneo, in January.
More recently, another company from Singapore, renewable energy developer Aslan Energy Capital, signed a deal last month to construct a 40MW data centre with a 120MWh BESS in Jakarta with Jakarta Industrial Estate Pulogadung (JIEP) by the end of 2027.
