Jakarta (VNA) – The Indonesian andGerman governments marked 25 years of bilateral cooperation in renewable energywith the 2018 Indonesian-German Renewable Energy Day (RE Day) Forum, which washeld in Jakarta, Indonesia on November 21.

The forum is expected to strengthen cooperationbetween Indonesia and Germany in the future, and provide innovative technologysolutions for the development of renewable energy in Indonesia.

General Director of New Renewable Energy andEnergy Conservation at the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral ResourcesRida Mulyana affirmed that his government is committed to providing wideraccess to energy for all Indonesians, by means of infrastructure developmentand optimising the potential of local energy resources.

To make it happen, the Indonesian Government hasbeen exerting sincere efforts, including increasing the electrification rate to99.9 percent in 2019 and maximising the use of renewable energy to ensure powerconsumption is sustainable and affordable.

Mulyana voiced his hope that the cooperationbetween Indonesia and Germany would help Indonesia overcome its challenges indeveloping renewable energy and increase its capacity to reach set targets.

Meanwhile, Programme Coordinator for RenewableEnergy in Indonesia and ASEAN for GIZ Rudolf Rauch stated that Indonesia hasenormous potential in renewable energy, such as solar power.

However, the use of solar energy sources inIndonesia is currently only around 0.09 GWp (gigawatt-peak). By contrast, inGermany 45 GW of electricity is generated from solar power.

In addition to geothermal energy, Indonesia alsohas room for other renewable energies, such as hydro energy, bioenergy, andwind power, with various upcoming projects in the future.

On the occasion, two memoranda of understanding(MoU) regarding capacity building and enhancing the role of associations inrenewable energy development were signed between the two nations.–VNA