Holiday Ayo - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia dare to guarantee that entrepreneurs who invest in new renewable energy (EBT) electricity in Indonesia will make a profit.

Bahlil said this solution was found after he was appointed as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources on Monday (19/8).

He emphasized to the ranks of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources that the issue of renewable energy is a must.

"So, for the first 10 years, so that the bank that finances the entrepreneur breaks the event point, after that it is reduced (the basic cost of providing/BPP). The contract is 30 years. So, for 10 years he (the entrepreneur) tries to return his capital, for 20 years he enjoys the results," he explained as quoted by cnnindonesia.com, Wednesday (25/9).

"Thank God, this method is well accepted by the government, PLN and entrepreneurs. I think this concept is a win-win concept so that there is no more debate," stressed Bahlil.

He said the issue in providing EBT electricity is that PT PLN (Persero) will buy it at a cheap price. On the other hand, Bahlil emphasized that this effort should not harm entrepreneurs who invest in this sector.

Bahlil gave the example that investing in an EBT power plant is quite expensive, even 6 times the cost of a coal PLTU.

He detailed the capital costs or capital expenditure (capex) to build an EBT power plant with a capacity of 1 megawatt (MW) reaching US$ 6 million.

"If I'm not mistaken, PLN accepted the regulation I signed yesterday, for the first 10 years around 9.5 cents for geothermal. So the cost of state subsidies is not too large," said Bahlil.

"Later in stages over 10 years, after that it will drop to 7 cents - 7.3 cents. After that it will be lowered again, so what? PLN can make a profit and the state will not be burdened," he added.

Bahlil also emphasized that he was given a mandate by President Joko Widodo and the 2024-2029 president-elect Prabowo Subianto regarding EBT.

He said that the contribution of EBT to Indonesia's electricity is at least 60 percent, which will be outlined in PLN's 2025-2035 Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL).

He said that so far the RUPTL has not included how many megawatts of electricity from EBT.

Bahlil said there were only big numbers, without discussing the details of the contribution of new renewable energy.

However, he admitted that there was another problem that had to be resolved, namely the transition.

Bahlil emphasized that geothermal sources, aka geothermal, wind and water are not accompanied by an integrated network.