Jakarta, 28 November 2025 – Aksi Ekologi dan Emansipasi Rakyat (AEER) held a public discussion entitled ‘Policy Review and Field Study Results: Community-Based Renewable Energy Electricity Development in Indonesia’. In addition to presenting field findings, the discussion was held with the aim of ensuring that renewable energy electricity development can be developed through communities, through the release of a Guidebook and the concept of ‘Community-Based Renewable Energy Electricity Development’. This is also in line with the latest national news, namely President Prabowo Subianto’s directive for the acceleration of the PLTS Tiap Desa (Solar Power Plant in Every Village) programme in the form of one megawatt of solar power for each village.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the electrification ratio in Indonesia has reached more than 99%. However, the data does not fully reflect the conditions on the ground, especially in 3T (frontier, outermost and least developed) areas. East Kutai Regency in East Kalimantan Province, for example, still had 26 out of approximately 140 villages without electricity as of mid-2024. This means that the ratio of villages with PLN (Perusahaan Listrik Negara / State Electricity Company) electricity has only reached 80.14%, while the remaining 19.86% still depend on non-PLN systems, such as generators and small-scale solar power plants (PLTS). A similar situation also occurs in Banggai Regency, Central Sulawesi, which faces challenges in electricity distribution due to difficult and limited geographical access.

Field Findings Related to Uneven Electricity Distribution

AEER’s findings highlight a significant gap between national electrification achievements and the reality for communities in the two study areas: Tebangan Lembak Village, East Kutai Regency, East Kalimantan, and Doda Bunta Village, Banggai Regency, Central Sulawesi. In both locations, electricity is available inconsistently and incompletely, and is usually powered by communal generators or small-scale solar power plants. Fuel costs for generators are high, village markets are not functioning, and productive economic activities are difficult to develop. It is even more unfortunate when we consider that both study areas are surrounded by coal (in East Kutai) and nickel (in Banggai) mining areas, two materials that are used for national and global energy needs.

“In the field, we still find villages that only get electricity from generators for 6 hours per night or live with small solar panels that are not sufficient for business. This severely limits the economic development of these villages,” said Annisa Hasna, Energy/Power System Analyst at AEER.

This was confirmed by the Ministry of Villages, which reported that there are still 5,700 villages in Indonesia without electricity, mainly in Papua, Nusa Tenggara, and parts of the Kalimantan border.

“The Ministry of Villages has instruments such as Village Funds, grants, and CSR partnerships that can be used to finance renewable energy development. However, the challenges are not simple, as geographical access, technological suitability, institutional capacity, and operational sustainability remain a collective task. Therefore, BUMDes (Badan Usaha Milik Desa / Village-Onwed Enterprise) must be encouraged to become energy managers, not just project recipients, so that power plants can operate sustainably in the long term,” said Nugroho Setijo Nagoro, Director General of Village and Rural Development at the Ministry of Villages and Disadvantaged Regions of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Ministry of Villages emphasises multisectoral cooperation instruments such as village funds, one of which prioritises energy development. These instruments also involve cost sharing between the government, the private sector, and villages. Therefore, grants and CSR must be managed by the community to ensure a sense of ownership and the sustainability of the facilities resulting from these instruments.

Sustainable Community-Based Renewable Energy Development Model

Titis Fitriani, Energy and Environmental Policy Specialist at AEER, continued by saying that it is important to establish a community-based renewable energy model that places villagers as the main managers, not just beneficiaries. Titis outlined a roadmap consisting of stages from pre-preparation to operation and replication, ensuring that power plants can operate for the next 2–5 years through contribution mechanisms, local operator training, management SOPs, and monitoring and evaluation systems. She also explained that community energy has a broad impact, ranging from opening up business opportunities, improving education and health services, to encouraging women’s involvement in village energy management.

‘It is necessary to explain the role of the community in policy, so that residents of remote areas are not just a slogan, but become active participants in meeting their own basic needs,’ she said.

Fitri Wulandari, Sub-Coordinator for Energy Conservation Cooperation at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said that the government continues to encourage the development of renewable energy power plants in the form of communal solar power plants and in areas not yet reached by the PLN electricity network. However, the sustainability of power plant operations remains a challenge that needs to be addressed collectively. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of the community so that they are able to manage solar power plants independently, from contribution mechanisms and battery maintenance to the readiness of local operators. This approach is considered important so that the community not only receives access to electricity, but also has a sense of ownership and sufficient understanding to ensure that the power plants continue to function and provide long-term socio-economic benefits.

In the future, synergy between various stakeholders in accordance with their respective roles is needed. The government is expected to integrate the principles of a people’s economy into energy management and utilisation, so that the role of the community is not limited to principles, but also manifests in concrete policies. To bridge the gap between the government and the community, AEER and other CSOs can play a role in amplifying the voices of the regions, both in terms of problems and actual conditions, so that they can become policy recommendations for the government and other energy solutions that are appropriate to the situation on the ground.

Media Contact:
Michael Raditya Setiawan
+62 822-4976-1486
michael.rs@aeer.or.id