Prabowo orders 1-MW solar plant for every Indonesian village

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has ordered the rollout of one-megawatt solar power plants in every village, a push officials say will anchor the country’s energy transition and power newly formed Red and White Village Cooperatives.Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the president issued the directive during a briefing on the national clean-energy agenda, which centers on village-based solar facilities.“We discussed this initiative in detail. It is our duty to carry out the president’s instruction to ensure each village can generate one megawatt of power,” Lahadalia said in an audio message received on Thursday.After meeting Prabowo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday night (Nov. 26), the minister said technical preparations for the program were nearly complete, with implementation and financing schemes now being finalized.“Praise be to God, our talks have reached the final stage, and we are currently discussing the financing aspect,” he said, adding that the government aims to launch construction swiftly to bolster the country’s energy-transition drive.Lahadalia earlier outlined the plan at the International Battery Summit 2025 in Jakarta last August, saying the government intends to build solar plants with a combined capacity of 100 gigawatts to deliver green electricity to villages and remote areas, strengthen energy security and speed up Indonesia’s shift to renewables.He said the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has begun preparing a grand design for the program to ensure it supports the operations of village cooperatives, including outlets, tools and productive equipment across the country.The minister also highlighted the project’s potential to spur investment and open new business lines in the domestic battery industry.“Solar plants tend to operate actively for around four hours during the day, with excess energy stored in batteries for use at night,” he said, stressing the opportunity for battery-based industries to expand as the village-solar program moves ahead.