August 6, 2025 | 03:20 pm
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, stated that the government plans to build solar power plants (PLTS) for Red-White Village Cooperatives, known as Kopdes Merah Putih. In total, the planned PLTS would have a massive capacity of up to 100 Gigawatts.
"That's the plan. We are currently designing on a large scale. One of the things we will build is PLTS for all villages, all hamlets, we will use PLTS," he said after the International Battery Summit 2025 at Hotel Mulia in Jakarta on Tuesday, August 5, 2025.
Prabowo's Mandate for Rural Electrification
Bahlil explained that the PLTS construction is an instruction from President Prabowo to expand electricity access for rural communities.
"President Prabowo's instruction is that we must build new renewable energy from solar power. In the future, we will build around 100 Gigawatts. This will encourage the availability of electricity for Kopdes Merah Putih," he said.
The former Minister of Investment highlighted that this development presents a business opportunity for battery industry players. "PLTS only operates for four hours during the day. The rest of the time, it has to be stored through batteries. At night, the batteries take over," he noted.
The minister added that the PLTS construction will be implemented gradually, but could not confirm a specific start date. "Gradually. The sooner the better," he stated.
Cooperatives to Become Energy Hubs
Previously, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan, also known as Zulhas, announced that the government would prepare 80,000 Red-White Cooperatives for the development of new and renewable energy infrastructure in the form of solar panels to achieve energy self-sufficiency.
He said the cooperatives would not only be savings and loan facilities but also serve as economic hubs in the villages, including by managing new and renewable energy.
"We are currently assessing in 80,000 villages, we will build 1 to 1.5 hectares of solar panels, based on villages, sub-districts, and districts. So that they have self-sufficient energy," Zulhas said during the Green Impact Festival on Thursday, July 24, 2025, as reported by Antara.
Addressing Subsidies and Efficiency
Zulhas noted that Indonesia provides electricity subsidies of US$25 billion, or over Rp399.37 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp15,975 per US dollar). He calculated that building the solar panels would require a capital investment of US$100 billion, or more than Rp1.57 quadrillion.
However, according to Zulhas, the investment would become profitable in the fifth year because Indonesia would no longer need to provide electricity subsidies to the villages.
"Indeed, it requires about US$100 billion; it has been calculated. It means that if US$100 billion, four years of subsidies. It can already be paid so that in the fifth and sixth years, we don't need subsidies again," he said.
With solar panels in each village, sub-district, and district, he argued, long transmission lines would no longer be necessary, making the system more efficient. "Of course, what is needed later is storage batteries. So once again, this is an extraordinary potential," he said.
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