The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, said that Indonesia is ready to transform towards a green economy.
According to him, in the future, green products will be increasingly needed as competitiveness between countries. This is because green products have added value and high demand in the global market.
Quoted from the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel, Monday (17/1/2022), he said “[The market] needs environmentally friendly one, which has become a new culture and is supported by green ecosystems in the world. It has started now in Europe. When buying a product, ask first, ‘Is this produced from green energy production?
Indonesia has the potential for strength in the fields of economy, renewables, and green economy. This can be maximized because Indonesia has large capital to produce green products.
Jokowi added, “Our new renewable energy potential is 418 gigawatts, which means 418,000 megawatts, which is huge. We have rivers, we have 4,400 rivers, this could be hydropower. We also have underwater currents, 2/3 of us are oceans. We have 29,000 megawatts of geothermal at our disposal, only 2,000 [megawatts] have been used, meaning that there are still 27,000 megawatts,”
Wind and rivers for renewable energies
Furthermore, Indonesia also has wind as a support for renewable energy which has been tested in various regions. Areas such as Jeneponto, in Sidrap, in Sulawesi, in Sukabumi have been tested for the application of renewable energy.
In addition to wind, Indonesia also has 4,400 rivers that can be used to support hydropower.
He said, “Just two rivers, the Mamberamo River in Papua can produce approximately 23,000 megawatts, one river. The Kayan River in North Kalimantan can produce approximately 11,000 megawatts. Just two rivers, we have 4,400 rivers. We can imagine how big our capital to be able to produce green products is, it’s very big,”
The government is preparing North Kalimantan Province as a green industrial area. The industrial area has an area of 16,000 hectares. Jokowi explained, if this project is successful, then Indonesia will become a large industrial country that the world should be reckoned with.
The first phase of the green economy project is targeted to be completed within the next 4-5 years.
