Julfi Hadi, CEO of PGE, announced that the company is currently venturing into the development of green hydrogen. This green hydrogen will be produced from several geothermal power plants owned by PGE.

According to Julfi, PGE will develop green hydrogen in two phases. The first phase involves proving technical feasibility, followed by its commercial viability.

"We are currently at the stage of proving technical feasibility," Julfi said on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.

Julfi cited that the technical feasibility phase aims to test the economic feasibility and market potential of green hydrogen and build the capacity to further develop it in the future. This phase requires research and development of investment types.

"The demonstration project will take less than three years," he said.

Julfi explained that a capacity of up to 30 MegaWatts (MW) is required to make the green hydrogen plant project economically feasible.

Julfi also expressed the company's hope for support from the government, in the form of incentives and regulations. These incentives include tax breaks, subsidies for green hydrogen prices, and funding for green hydrogen projects.

"As for regulatory support, it includes rules for hydrogen export, production standards, transportation of green hydrogen, and the power wheeling scheme for electricity distribution through the national transmission," he said.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), hydrogen is currently used in Indonesia's industrial sector, primarily as a raw material for fertilizers. 

The current hydrogen consumption in Indonesia is approximately 1.75 million tons per year, with the majority used for urea (88 percent), ammonia (4 percent), and oil refineries (2 percent).

"The majority of hydrogen usage in the industry currently comes from natural gas," Chrisnawan Anditya, Head of Data and Information Technology Center for Mineral Resources at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), said.

He revealed that Indonesia's proven natural gas reserves reach 41.62 TCF, used for blue hydrogen production. 

Additionally, Indonesia has the potential for 3,686 GW of new renewable energy generation, which could supply green hydrogen.

Meanwhile, hydrogen-powered vehicles are being implemented worldwide. China emerged as the largest market for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). 

According to a report by SNE Research, a renewable energy research institution from South Korea, China accounted for 38.8 percent of global FCEV sales in 2023, with 5.6 thousand units sold.

The next largest markets are South Korea, the United States, Europe, and Japan.