Indonesia's plan to develop Green Super Grid will require transmission infrastructure that would allow renewable energy projects to operate more efficiently. The European Union's participation could mobilize transformative infrastructure outcomes for green energy in the country and strengthen their economic presence in Southeast Asia.
Indonesia's clean energy future will not be determined by how many renewable power plants it can build. It will be determined by whether electricity generated in one part of the archipelago can reach consumers in another. That is why Jakarta should make an ambitious proposal to the European Union: help finance Indonesia's Green Super Grid.
The timing could not be more important. President Prabowo Subianto's administration has embraced an ambitious vision for expanding electricity generation and accelerating the country's energy transition. Yet renewable energy projects alone will not deliver that objective. Without a stronger transmission network, much of Indonesia's renewable energy potential will remain stranded far from where it is needed most.
Indonesia's energy challenge is not simply one of generation. It is one of geography. The country's most promising renewable resources are scattered across a vast archipelago stretching thousands of kilometres. Large hydropower resources are concentrated in Kalimantan and Papua, while vast solar and wind potential lies across eastern Indonesia. Yet the largest concentration of electricity demand remains in Java and other industrial centres. Connecting these supply and demand hubs is becoming one of Indonesia's most important infrastructure challenges.
For decades, Indonesia's electricity system has largely developed as a collection of regional grids. That model made sense when power generation was localized and fossil fuel based. But it is increasingly incompatible with a sustainable economy powered by renewable energy.
Renewable energy requires connectivity. A solar-rich region should be able to export power to an industrial hub. This is particularly important as Indonesia pursues its ambition to add 100 GW of new power capacity, including an initial 17 GW phase supported by large-scale battery energy storage systems. Hydropower resources can also complement intermittent renewable generation elsewhere. Electricity should move efficiently across regions rather than remain confined within isolated systems.
Recognizing this reality, State Electricity Company's latest electricity development plan places unprecedented emphasis on transmission infrastructure. The company plans to develop a Green Super Grid and nearly 48,000 kilometres of new transmission lines over the next decade to connect renewable energy resources with major centres of demand. The objective is straightforward: create the backbone necessary for a national clean-energy system.
The challenge is financing. Transmission projects rarely attract the same attention as power plants. Investors naturally gravitate toward generation assets that produce clear and predictable revenue streams. Transmission infrastructure, by contrast, requires large upfront investments, long development timelines and extensive coordination across jurisdictions.
Yet transmission may be the single most important investment Indonesia can make. A stronger national grid would allow renewable energy projects to operate more efficiently, reduce curtailment, improve system reliability and lower long-term electricity costs. More importantly, it would support Indonesia's broader economic ambitions.
The Green Super Grid is not merely an energy project. It is an industrial policy project. Indonesia is pursuing an ambitious strategy to develop downstream mineral processing, electric vehicle manufacturing, data centres and other energy-intensive industries. These sectors require enormous quantities of reliable electricity. Building renewable energy projects without simultaneously expanding transmission infrastructure risks creating isolated pockets of generation rather than an integrated national market capable of supporting industrial growth.
This is where Europe should come in. The European Union's Global Gateway initiative was established to support sustainable, high-quality infrastructure and connectivity projects around the world. Energy infrastructure is one of its core priorities. Rather than focusing solely on individual renewable energy projects, Europe should support the infrastructure that enables all of them to succeed. Global Gateway explicitly identifies energy connectivity and sustainable infrastructure as central pillars of its strategy.
Such cooperation would benefit both sides. For Indonesia, European participation could help mobilize concessional financing, technical expertise and project preparation support for one of the country's most strategically important infrastructure priorities. For Europe, supporting Indonesia's Green Super Grid would demonstrate that Global Gateway can deliver transformative infrastructure outcomes in one of the world's largest emerging economies. It would also strengthen the European Union's economic presence in Southeast Asia at a time when competition over infrastructure financing is intensifying.
Most importantly, transmission is an area where European support would generate maximum impact. Financing a single renewable energy project adds capacity. Financing grid infrastructure unlocks hundreds of future projects.
Indonesia should therefore approach Brussels with a clear proposition. The next phase of Europe–Indonesia energy cooperation should focus on transmission connectivity, including high-voltage inter-island links that can connect renewable energy resources to the country's major industrial and population centres. The objective should not simply be to build more power plants but to create a national electricity system capable of supporting a modern industrial economy.
The debate over Indonesia's energy transition often focuses on what power plants should be built. That is the wrong question. The more important question is how electricity will move across an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. Power plants generate electricity. Transmission networks create energy systems. If Indonesia is serious about becoming a renewable energy powerhouse, and if Europe is serious about being a strategic infrastructure partner, then building Indonesia's Green Super Grid together would be the most consequential investment either side could make.
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Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is Director of the China-Indonesia Desk at the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS). He also holds affiliated positions at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics, and Busan University of Foreign Studies. His research focuses on the political economy of international cooperation, with particular expertise in China–Indonesia relations, China–Middle East relations, and Indonesia–Middle East relations.
Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara is Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS). He was awarded a British Academy grant for research on the Just Energy Transition (2024–2025). Previously, he served as an economist and expert staff member at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and worked as a consultant for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, in Jakarta. He holds a master's degree from the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. His research focuses on macroeconomics, the energy transition, and critical minerals governance.
Disclaimer: This published work was prepared with the support of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. The views and analysis contained in the work are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the foundation. The author is responsible for any liability claims against copyright breaches of graphics, photograph, images, audio, and text used.
