Rooftop Solar and Power Wheeling Needed to Prevent Electricity Crisis
The SUSTAIN Foundation (Yayasan Kesejahteraan Berkelanjutan Indonesia) has stated that the rolling blackouts occurring in several areas of Java are evidence of the fragility of the national electricity system, which remains dependent on coal. According to the organisation, disruptions to coal supply will continue to threaten national energy security if reliance on fossil fuels is not reduced immediately.
SUSTAIN Executive Director Tata Mustasya noted that the domestic coal requirement under the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) scheme has now reached approximately 220 million metric tonnes. He described this figure as enormous and likely to cause supply problems, particularly as the gap between the DMO price and global market prices widens.
Mustasya argued that Indonesia will struggle to meet this demand despite being a coal-exporting country. “As a result, coal supply shortages will continue to haunt Indonesia and threaten energy security,” he said in a written statement on Monday, 22 June 2026.
He added that merely fixing technical faults at power plants is insufficient to address the root of the problem. Based on the latest study published in SUSTAIN Brief Vol. 4: Unlocking Solar Energy Demand: The Strategic Role of Rooftop Solar and Power Wheeling in Achieving the 100 GW Solar Energy Target, the organisation proposes solar energy diversification as a long-term solution.
Mustasya explained that electricity demand from the household and industrial sectors can drive the acceleration of solar energy development through the installation of rooftop solar power plants (PLTS atap) and the implementation of a power wheeling scheme. Under an accelerated scenario calculated by SUSTAIN, additional solar capacity could reach approximately 11.4 gigawatt peak (GWp) in a relatively short period.
“This additional capacity can make a significant contribution to the national target of building 17 GW of solar power plants within three years without further burdening state finances,” he said.
SUSTAIN proposes two main measures to prevent widespread blackouts from recurring. First, expanding the use of rooftop solar to reduce dependence on a centralised electricity system. Mustasya noted that an overly centralised system is vulnerable to disruption when problems occur at power plants or on the main grid. With regulatory support and incentives for the industrial, commercial, and household sectors, the public can produce electricity independently, ensuring that some demand can still be met when the main grid is disrupted.
Second, SUSTAIN urges the government to implement a power wheeling scheme, allowing private renewable energy producers to utilise the state-owned PLN’s transmission network. This would enable industrial players who wish to use clean energy but face limited green electricity supply to receive power directly from producers via existing transmission infrastructure.
Mustasya concluded that dependence on a few large fossil-fuel-based power plants makes the electricity system vulnerable to disruptions in primary energy supply or transmission networks. “Java is the centre of 60 to 70 percent of Indonesia’s economic activity, so it requires stronger energy diversification through renewable energy,” he said.