Energy company SEG Solar Inc. becomes the first company from the United States investing in Batang Integrated Industrial Estate in downstream industry of silica sands.
Deputy Minister for Investment Promotion at the Ministry of Investment/ Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Nurul Ichwan, emphasized the urgency to increase investment realization especially on the ecosystem of solar panel industry to support renewable energy mix target of 42 percent by 2030.
He said that the government fully supports investment in silica sands downstream industry by PT SEG Solar Manufacture Indonesia. He maintained the government’s seriousness in implementing downstreaming program to increase added value.
“Measures to take including strengthening Indonesia’s commitment to be part of global supply chain and to achieve the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) as well as renewable energy mix through the strengthening of solar panel industry ecosystem,” Nurul said as quoted in a statement on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
He said further that in an effort to support such high technology investment, Indonesia needs to prepare qualified human resources in order to secure benefit from the investment for local manpower absorptions.
Job creation
Data at the Ministry of Investment/BKPM shows that the solar panel industry project will become the biggest solar panel factory of SEG Solar Inc. in Southeast Asia to support its global supply chain with total investment plan of US$ 500 million Rp8 trillion).
The colar panel factory, to be built on an area of 40 hectares, is estimated to provide jobs for 2,000 people in the next five years. Its construction is targeted to be completed in 2025. The factory’s total production capacity of 5 Gigawatt will be exported to the US and sold in domestic market.
The groundbreaking of the factory is a follow-up to the signing of pre-work agreement between SEG Solar Inc., PT ATW Solar Manufacture Indonesia and KITB on June 23, 2023 in Washington DC that was witnessed by Investment Minister Rosan P. Roeslani, who was then Indonesian Ambassador to the US.
Comprehensive bilateral relationship
Indonesia and the United State have strong commitment in increasing comprehensive bilateral relationship, including in the investment sector. US investment in Indonesia shows a relatively significant increase with average annual growth of 2.3 times bigger than the average growth during the pandemic.
In 2023, US companies have increased their investment valueup to US$3 billion with relatively stable growth since 2021. In the first semester of 2024, the United States sits at fourth position as the country with almost US$2 billion in Foreign Investment value or 60 percent of its investment value last year.
“The production of solar panel hopefully can contribute to the increasing needs of national electric consumption that is projected to increase at an average 4.1 percent per year in the next 10 years. The increase in consumption is encouraged by high need of individual costumers and the rise of industrial development. The downstream project of silica sands hopefully can play pivotal role in the development of renewable energy potential in Indonesia,” Nurul Ichwan concluded.
