A Milestone for Indonesia’s Energy Transition
It’s official. Repowering is now part of Indonesia’s National Energy Policy!
Indonesia’s new National Energy Policy (PP no 40/2025) has recently been signed by President Prabowo Subianto. This policy is now definitive and legally binding.
It’s a milestone moment: Repowering of coal is now included.
The Policy establishes an ambitious roadmap for Indonesia’s energy transition, targeting a sharp decline of GHG emissions after peaking in 2035, and Net Zero Emissions by 2060. It’s a dramatic shift away from fossil fuel dependency, responding to the rapid technological advancements in renewable energy, and the imperative to fulfil national climate commitments.
Indonesia’s Energy Landscape
Indonesia has the world’s fifth-largest coal-fired power capacity of 52.31 GW, and the fleet is relatively young (average age of 11 years). Coal currently provides ~40% of Indonesia’s primary energy mix, and this is projected to fall to under 8% by 2060.
New and renewable energy sources are expected to rise from 19–23% in 2030 to 70–72% by 2060.
A systematic phase-out of coal-fired power plants is planned through:
- Gradual retirement
- Ending the operational life of older plants
- Converting plants to lower-carbon technologies
The Policy emphasises the utilisation of new energy sources, including nuclear, for electricity generation through repowering and cogeneration.
⚡ Policy APPENDIX:
“Repowering is the process of renewing the main power in a more efficient electricity generation system, so as to produce an increase in cleaner electrical energy, for example, coal boilers are replaced with nuclear and geothermal reactors.”
Repowering: A Result of Persistent Advocacy
Coal repowering in Indonesia’s official National Energy Policy is not something that happens by chance.
This is a culmination of much convincing of the government by the Repower Indonesia team, headed by Bob S. Effendi. They have successfully demonstrated that repowering is a viable option for keeping costs down and addressing the issue of stranded assets.
Indonesia is an archipelago nation, with seven major islands and thousands of small islands. There’s no continuous grid, so there’s an intermittency challenge when decarbonising by only using renewables.
Repowering coal maintains power reliability in a clean transition.
What’s Next
The government and PLN RUPTL (Indonesia’s state-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electric power generation and distribution) are expected to form an implementation committee for a repowering pilot project by the end of this year.
The Repower Indonesia team will gather with CEOs of major utilities, pioneering clean technology developers, asset owners, policymakers, and financial institutions for a roundtable discussion on practical strategies for advancing repowering projects on 28th Oct 2025.
More updates on this event to follow soon!