Prabowo Breaks Ground on Gilimanuk Solar Plant, While Karangasem's Kubu Solar Project Lies Abandoned
President Prabowo Subianto performed the groundbreaking for the Gilimanuk Solar Power Plant (PLTS) project in Jembrana on Tuesday (25/8/2026). The project is touted to have a capacity of 100 gigawatt peak (GWp).
Solar power plant construction is not the first to be carried out in Bali. In 2013, a solar power plant was also built in Kubu Village, Karangasem. However, the Kubu solar plant has not yet operated, or is effectively abandoned.
Based on detikBali’s observation at the location, the condition of the plant built on approximately 1.2 hectares of land is quite concerning. Almost all the solar panels at the Kubu solar plant are overgrown with plants and wild grass. Some of the solar panels are even broken.
No one was seen at the Kubu solar plant site. The gate was also padlocked because, until now, no one has managed the plant.
“Indeed, rarely anyone comes; at most, only once or twice a year someone comes to carry out checks,” said a resident, I Made Duduk, when met near the location on Friday (28/8/2026).
Duduk said wild plants have long grown in the Kubu solar plant area, but no one has carried out any cleaning. In fact, the condition of the Kubu solar plant was very good when it was first completed.
“It is very unfortunate; the building was once said to be good, but now it has no benefit. So it seems like a loss to build this (solar plant),” said Duduk.
Duduk hopes the building can be utilised properly so that it is not wasted.
The Head of the Economy and Development Section of the Karangasem Regional Secretariat, I Gede Adi Agus Wintara, said his office is not the organisation tasked with managing the Kubu solar plant. The Economy and Development Section of the Karangasem Regional Secretariat only plays a role in facilitating plans for the utilisation of the asset.
“We are not the manager, but only facilitate. The solar plant asset is already recorded with the regency government through the Regional Financial and Asset Management Agency (BPKAD), both the land and the solar plant installation,” said Wintara.
The building and facilities of the Kubu solar plant, Wintara explained, were handed over by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) to the Karangasem Regency Government in 2017. Meanwhile, the land on which the solar plant is located was previously an asset of the Bali Provincial Government. The land was then handed over to the Karangasem Regency Government in 2022.
However, problems arose in determining the party to manage the Kubu solar plant after the handover. This is because the Karangasem Regency Government does not yet have a regional apparatus organisation (OPD) whose main duties and functions (tupoksi) cover the electricity business.
According to Wintara, there was a plan to hand over the management of the solar plant to the Karangasem Regional Company (Perseroda). However, the plan requires a capital injection process from the Karangasem Regency Government.
Before the capital injection is carried out, the solar plant asset must first go through an assessment process by the State Assets and Auction Service Office (KPKNL). In fact, the Kubu solar plant has been directly connected to the network of the State Electricity Company (PLN) since it was first built in 2013. The electricity generated at that time was even utilised by PLN.
The situation changed after the status of the solar plant became an asset of the Karangasem Regency Government. Since then, there has been no cooperation between PLN and the Karangasem Regency Government regarding the utilisation of the solar plant.
“PLN does not dare to utilise it because it must be business-to-business. Going forward, whether the Perseroda will manage it, and what the cooperation system will be like, that still needs to be discussed further,” said Wintara.