The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) noted that Indonesia has the potential for 3 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from waste raw materials.

Eniya Listiani Dewi, Director of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) at the ESDM Ministry, said that the amount of waste needed for the 3 GW power plant is huge.

She cited that Indonesia has a very large waste potential. In an effort to push the target, the government is currently working on the right scenario in the development of Waste-to-Energy Power Plant (PLTSa) in Indonesia.

"From there, we will create a scenario in the Presidential Decree so that developers will benefit more," Eniya said on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Meanwhile, the new PLTSa will be profitable if it has a generation scale of 1,000 tons of waste per day. Through this capacity, the price of electricity can be cheaper than the current average price of electricity.

Waste management rules

Zulkifli Hasan, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, said that currently there are three Presidential Regulations (Perpres) that regulate waste management separately, such as the national waste management strategy, marine waste and waste management into electrical energy.

He said that this regulation will shorten the bureaucracy of waste processing into energy that can be purchased by the State electricity company PT PLN.

PLN will later become the party that will buy the electricity generated from the waste processing. The government also plans to speed up the licensing process, with ESDM ministry as the permit issuer.

"In general waste management, there is an important solution, namely, regarding one of them is the use of technology. How waste is processed into electrical energy," Zulkifli said.

Then, this regulation will also set the electricity cost from PLTSa at 19.20 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), to cover the cost of effective waste processing. Because the current electricity rate set at 13.5 cents per kWh is not enough to finance effective waste processing in Indonesia.

In an effort to overcome this problem, the government finally adjusted the tariffs through a subsidy scheme provided through the Ministry of Finance.

"From 13.35 cents to between 19.20 cents ... Later the difference will certainly be a subsidy. Billed to the Ministry of Finance. That way the complicated procedure is shortened," Zulkifli said.