August 1, 2025 | 11:08 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Claiming to encourage the growth of renewable energy, two new power plants in Bali will run on gas. They could potentially damage the coastal ecosystem.
BALI is always the face of Indonesia. In international forums held there, the government often shows off renewable energy projects as a realization of its commitment to the global climate movement. And now, Bali will become the right place to see if the government’s noble promise to promote the energy transition is anything more than a promise.
This can be seen from the Bali Independent Clean Energy program, an electricity sector development project that seemingly prioritizes the burning of fossil fuels. The Bali provincial government has proposed the program as a continuation of the 2025-2034 Electricity Procurement Plan, which includes the planned floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) project that will store and process liquefied natural gas.
The construction of this gas storage facility is being accelerated to supply two gas-fired power plants in Bali. These two plants are part of the project for 28 power plants to be constructed on the island. These additional power plants are needed due to the surge in the demand for electricity in Bali after the revival of the tourism industry following the pandemic. The additional power plants will have a total extra capacity of 2,744 megawatts, most of which will be provided by burning gas.
This shows that from the outset, the national electricity plan does not reflect the energy transition commitment to mitigate the global climate crisis. The use of gas, which is being prioritized as the transition energy to reduce the dependence on coal in the electricity sector, is completely at odds with the commitment to climate action.
The disadvantages of using gas are no less than those from using coal, as it will produce more carbon emissions and threaten the decarbonization target. Meanwhile, the gas for the FSRU will still come from locations outside Bali, namely Sumatra and Papua, undermining the claim of independence in the energy sector.
The FSRU project shows that the commitment to using clean energy is getting farther and farther away. In fact, until 2024, the new and renewable energy mix in Bali is very low, only reaching 1.48 percent with a total installed renewable power generation capacity of 7.45 MW. Whereas the proportion of new and renewable energy in the 2024 national energy mix has reached 14.1 percent.
Another problem is that the FSRU will be built very close to residential areas, which will threaten sacred areas and unique cultural heritage. Concerns about damage to the coastal and fishery ecosystems, such as the habitats of protected species including turtles in the Ngurah Rai Forest Park, are increasing.
All these problems show that the Bali Independent Clean Energy program is another poor example of how to promote the energy transition in the electricity sector. This project is built without any consideration for the sustainability of the energy supply chain, or the socio-economic and cultural impacts on the surrounding areas.
If the government is serious about realizing sustainable energy independence, it should prioritize new and renewable energy sources, rather than the exact opposite, an independent clean energy program that is nothing more than a gimmick to exploit fossil fuel energy that damages the environment.
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