Government Targets 100 GW of Solar Power in 3 Years: How Realistic Is It?
The government is targeting the development of Solar Power Plants (PLTS) up to 100 gigawatts (GW) over the next three years. This follows direct instructions from President Prabowo Subianto.
A member of the National Energy Council (DEN), Sripeni Inten Cahyani, assessed that achieving this target heavily depends on the readiness of domestic electricity demand.
“So, in building supply—in this case, electricity, specifically power plants—we must address demand. So, the 100 gigawatts must meet 100 gigawatts of demand,” said Sripeni in Jakarta on Tuesday (21/4/2026).
According to her, the government has already begun considering this demand side. One approach is through plans for large-scale conversion of petrol-fuelled vehicles to electric vehicles.
Additionally, the rural electrification programme is seen as a significant driver. For example, plans to develop 80,000 villages, assuming an electricity need of around 1 megawatt (MW) per village.
With this calculation, village electricity needs can be optimised through various utilisations, from electric vehicles and cold storage for fishermen to local processing industry development.
“There is downstreaming of mineral processing industry, and that is where the largest electricity consumption lies. Secondly, data centres. One data centre can use 1 GW, but data centres require cooling water. Just place data centres near hydroelectric plants,” she stated.
As is known, President Prabowo Subianto is accelerating the transition to green energy, including with a giant-capacity Solar Power Plant (PLTS) development target. He aims for Indonesia to reach an installed capacity of up to 100 gigawatts (GW) by at least 2029.
Prabowo emphasised that the government will maximise the utilisation of solar energy electricity within the next three years.
“We want to move very quickly to use electricity from solar energy. We have a plan and we are determined to proceed as quickly as possible; within three years, we want to achieve 100 gigawatts of solar energy,” said Prabowo at the Indonesia-Japan Business Forum in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday (30/3/2026).
This plan to accelerate PLTS development is considered urgent to realise. According to him, the escalation of conflicts and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, especially in the Middle East, pose a threat to national energy supply stability.
“For us, this is more urgent because the geopolitical situation in the Middle East provides strategic uncertainty for our energy security,” Prabowo stressed.
As an anticipation, the government continues to secure supplies by utilising domestic resources. In addition to solar power, Indonesia also has great potential in the geothermal sector and is boosting production of biofuels such as 50% biodiesel (B50) and bioethanol.