VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif said there is a need for an ASEAN energy transition, which does not only focus on switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, but also switching to energy and technology options, which are affordable and cleaner.

 

 This was conveyed by Minister Arifin while attending the 38th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM), which was held virtually in Vietnam from Thursday (19/11/2020) to Friday.

 

 In his release in Jakarta, Friday, Minister Arifin said that one of Indonesia's main initiatives related to ASEAN energy transition cooperation was to initiate the establishment of the Clean Coal Technology Center of Excellence (CCT COE), which is planned to be located at the Coal Technology Center, Palimanan, West Java.

 

 The existence of the CCT COE is important to enhance international cooperation, including collaborative research and development and technology transfer, not only for Indonesia, but other ASEAN member countries.

 

 Support from all ASEAN member countries and three AMEM + 3 speech partner countries (Japan, Korea, and China) is expected to realize the use of CCT COE and improve its capabilities in terms of expertise, facilities and resources.

 

 "Indonesia hopes that cooperation in the ASEAN Forum on Coal can become a think tank to promote the use of clean coal technology in conjunction with ASEAN's movement towards a cleaner energy transition and a low carbon economy," said Arifin.

 

 In this series of meetings, the ASEAN energy ministers also met with the Ministers of the East Asia Summit Energy Minister Meeting (EAS-EMM) which included AMEM + 3 plus the United States, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia.

 

 The AMEM meeting also presented international organizations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to see a global energy perspective and its relation to the ASEAN region.

 

 The target of reducing ASEAN's energy intensity by 20 percent by 2020 was achieved earlier in 2018, namely by 21 percent.

 

 This achievement has made ASEAN optimistic that it can achieve the new target of reducing energy intensity by 32 percent by 2025.

 

 Meanwhile, ASEAN is still facing challenges in trying to achieve the renewable energy mix target, which in 2018 only amounted to 13.9 percent of the total primary energy supply.

 

 This figure is still quite far from the 23 percent target in 2025, but ASEAN has agreed to add the target of installed capacity of renewable energy in power plants to reach 35 percent by 2025.

 

 Minister Arifin is also scheduled to attend virtually the ASEAN Energy Business Forum (AEBF) this Friday afternoon.

 

 AEBF is a forum that brings together ASEAN energy entrepreneurs through seminars and business matching.

 

 One of the AEBF agendas is the dialogue of ministerial level officials with energy company CEOs to share views and support in order to improve energy connectivity, energy utilization and digitization, including efforts to achieve ASEAN energy targets.

 

 This event was also part of the awarding of the ASEAN Energy Award (AEA).  Indonesia won many awards at this event, after going through a rigorous selection stage.

 

 The awards cover the categories of Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Conservation, as well as Individuals as Energy Managers. (Antaranews)