Pertamina Builds Solar Power Plant on Small Indonesian Island, One Hour from Singapore
Pertamina New and Renewable Energy (NRE) is building a solar power plant (PLTS) on Pulau Sembur, Batam, in the Riau Islands, located just one hour from Singapore. The pilot project will have a capacity of 1 Mega Watt (MW).
Pertamina NRE President Director John Anis stated that the project aims to end residents’ dependence on diesel power plants (PLTD), which have only operated on a limited basis for decades.
‘The solar panels, as the Director General of EBTKE at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Eniya Listiani Dewi, mentioned, will reach our villages and off-grid areas. We are creating a 1 MW pilot on Pulau Sembur. Pulau Sembur is in Batam, about an hour from Singapore,’ he said at the CNBC Indonesia Energy Forum in Jakarta last week.
He noted that the solar plant is targeted to begin operations in July or at the latest early August 2026. Until now, residents in the area have only enjoyed electricity for four to five hours per day due to the operational limitations of the diesel generators.
‘We are building there, and hopefully, by July or early August, this 1 MW will be operational. The goal is to improve their standard of living, because most of them are fishermen. They sell their fish cheaply because there is no cold storage or ice maker,’ he added.
The construction of the renewable energy plant is expected to boost local economic welfare, particularly in the fisheries sector, which is the main livelihood of the population. With 24-hour electricity, fishermen will be able to operate cold storage facilities to maintain the quality of their catch before selling it to the market.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) is preparing various strategies to ensure that the plan to build 100 Giga Watt (GW) of solar power plants does not burden land availability. One approach is to utilise reservoirs, former mining land, and rooftops as locations for solar plant construction.
Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at the Ministry of ESDM, Eniya Listiani Dewi, explained that the government is currently identifying various potential sites to support the large-scale solar power target.
‘The concept of new and renewable energy covers everything. When we talk about 100 GW, this is like building the entire existing generation capacity, which currently stands at 107 GW. Adding another 100 GW is like building something massive,’ Eniya said at the CNBC Indonesia Energy Forum.
To reduce the need for new land, the Ministry of ESDM will collaborate with the Ministry of Public Works to utilise dams and reservoir surfaces as locations for floating solar plants. The ministry is also opening opportunities for the use of post-mining land, as well as the installation of solar panels on rooftops, in industrial areas, warehouses, and commercial buildings.
‘This effort to increase new and renewable energy is quite massive, and we certainly want to encourage investment to come into Indonesia. It requires around 1,600 trillion rupiah to build the renewable energy we have planned over the next 10 years,’ she said.