*5.1. Barriers and Key Enablers*

Indonesia has tremendous renewable energy capacity which is still underutilised by the Indonesian power sector. The long dependency on fossil fuels, particularly coal, has proved difficult to break as the image of coal as cheap energy while renewable sources remain as expensive technologies. Although some steps to enhance renewable energy have been placed since many years ago, the Indonesian renewables sector has yet to take off.

The development of renewable energy sources in Indonesia has not been without any barriers, as it has encountered quite a few challenges from the operational, financial regulatory challenges. The operational challenge is mostly related to the nature of each type of renewable energy sources, which includes the availability and reliability issues. Financial challenge is mostly related to the exorbitant initial cost of installation, and it has been one of the major hurdles for the development of renewable energy, regardless of the type of renewable. Lastly, the regulatory challenge is viewed as the primary obstacle in the energy transition and renewable development, especially for the private sector, which hampers the development process, i.e., the regulation that define the conservation area makes it impossible for the exploration of renewable energy in the area with high potentials. Having analysed the barriers, the obstacles are quite evident in both the planning and implementation stage of renewable energy development. However, this does not necessarily mean that both stages of development do not adhere to the same vision. Therefore, regulation and policy refinement are indeed necessary, thus becoming the most important key enablers, as they allow us to tackle multiple present barriers effectively.

According to the stakeholders' points of view, some of the important key enablers are classified as follows, so identifying these enablers is of paramount importance for the transition to renewable and sustainable energy technologies.


outdated and inadequate regulations, as well as to design new regulations and policy that can accommodate the interests of all relevant stakeholders. Therefore, having higher regulations covering the renewable energy sector, such as Renewable Energy Bill, Presidential Regulation, and Governmental Regulation, would have stronger impacts on renewable energy development.

4. Focusing on the clean, large scale types of renewable energy for power generation, for instance, hydropower and geothermal energy. Nuclear power as another new energy source has also been considered and is still categorised as a viable option, considering all the relevant safety and technical concerns being put in place.
