VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources continues to spur the growth of the rooftop solar power plant  industry in order to contribute significantly to the development of new and renewable energy in Indonesia. Director General of New Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Dadan Kusdiana said it in an online discussion on Friday, August 27. According to him,  the revision of the Ministerial Regulation regarding the use of rooftop solar power plant   can answer the needs of its supporting industry. One of the urgency of the regulation revision is to answer the global challenges related to the consumption of green products, which must be met by the industrial sector quickly so that their products remain competitive and acceptable to consumers.

He further explained that the tendency of consumers for  green products made from environmentally friendly processes requires factories to use clean energy. The presence of supporting industries for roof solar power plant  or  PV mini-grid will improve the economy, thus making the cost of installing PV mini-grid more competitive. Indonesia can increase its capacity and have an industry from the upstream side for the manufacture of cells which are still imported. If this develops later, the solar power plant   industry in the country can grow.

Dadan said that he   continues to communicate with the Ministry of Industry and associations regarding the capacity of the local PV mini-grid industry built in Indonesia.

The government's main goal is to open up as wide as possible the domestic PV mini-grid market, so that it can spur business actors to build supporting industries for roof PV mini-grid, both in laminating  and upstream side of cell manufacture.

In January 2018, the number of rooftop solar power plant  users in Indonesia was only 351 customers, so the growth rate of rooftop solar power plant   customers reached 1,047 percent within three years. The current figure obtained by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is 22 to 26 ready manufacturers with a total capacity of around 500 megawatts.