The Emergence of Solar Photovoltaic Technology in Indonesia: Winners and Losers

Abstract

As the solar energy technology has been more competitive recently, it is common to see studies which examined how solar photovoltaic can technically emerge in the energy system in Indonesia. However, less research is conducted to study how the emergence of solar photovoltaic might impact different stakeholders in the electricity market in Indonesia. The increase of solar photovoltaic deployment will create winners and losers among the main stakeholders which are: the consumers, the national electricity company (PLN), independent power producers (IPP), and the Government of Indonesia. This paper asserts that consumers in Indonesia who do not have access to the grid will get benefits from the solar photovoltaic competitive costs. The consumers who have access to grid, however, will be indifferent in their position. In the longer term, these consumers will face the death spiral unless PLN, forced by the regulation, takes the loss. PLN will face bankruptcy due to the loss unless they invest in the distributed energy resources infrastructure. IPP will not gain in position due to unsupportive government regulations. Moreover, solar photovoltaic IPP will be vulnerable due to the policies that support imbalanced competition among renewable energies. On the other hand, the government will get some advantages that support their political agenda during the proliferation of solar photovoltaic.