Prabowo: It's Time We Leave Fossil Fuels Behind

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto has stated that Indonesia must abandon energy derived from carbon or fossil fuels. It is time for Indonesia to move towards clean energy, namely new renewable energy (EBT).

Prabowo emphasised that one of the steps the government will take to leave fossil fuels, such as Automotive Fuel Oil (BBM), is to use electricity or electrification.

“Using electricity so as not to rely too heavily on BBM from fossils, from carbon. Indeed, the country needs it; we must leave energy from carbon, from fossils, and use it only for strategic purposes,” Prabowo stated during the inauguration of the commercial electric vehicle assembly facility owned by PT Vektor Teknologi Mobilitas Tbk. in Magelang, Central Java, on Thursday (9/4/2026). From this, Prabowo praised the VKTR initiative in developing an electric bus assembly factory in Magelang.

To abandon fossil fuels, Prabowo also explained that aviation fuel or avtur can now be processed using palm oil or biodiesel.

“Even avtur in the future will come from used oil, from waste, from cooking oil residues; we can process it into avtur, and in a short while, we will open processing centres, refineries for this. We will invest massively in that sector,” Prabowo asserted.

The Prabowo administration is also currently building Waste-to-Energy Power Plants (PLTSa) with a capacity of 100 Gigawatts (GW) as a substitute for Diesel Power Plants (PLTD) that run on oil.

It is hoped that the project can be completed within two years. “There will be no more power plants using diesel, using solar oil. No. With that, we will close 13 diesel power plants under PLN; we will shut them down,” Prabowo stated.

It is estimated that closing those diesel plants will allow Indonesia to save up to 200,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). As is well known, Indonesia is currently a net oil importer, recording imports of around 1 million barrels per day.

“We still need to import 1 million barrels a day. By closing the PLTD, we will immediately save 20%. With the 100 GW later, we will save enormously; perhaps in two to three years, we won’t need to import BBM at all.”

“We have great strength; we are truly serious; we will be strong; we will stand on our own feet,” Prabowo emphasised.