President Joko Widodo postponed his plan to work from the Nusantara Capital (IKN) in July 2024, considering the readiness of the electricity installations.
Despite solar power installations being in place, it will still take time to illuminate the entire IKN area. To enable the president to work in IKN, the National Electric Company (PLN) needs to accelerate the installation of electricity in the Presidential Palace area, allowing the president to work there three days a week.
UGM Energy Economics Expert Dr. Fahmy Radhi believes that achieving net zero emission (NZE) or zero carbon emissions in IKN will be challenging, even though the city was initially designed to be environmentally friendly by minimizing carbon production.
According to Dr. Radhi, to reach NZE, 100% of power plants must use renewable energy, there should be 0% carbon emissions from fossil fuel vehicles, and there should be 0% environmental pollution from factory emissions.
“To achieve 100% renewable energy power plants, PLN needs to build distributed solar power plants with a capacity of 50 Mega Watts and add more hydropower plants,” said Dr. Radhi on Thursday (Aug. 15).
To support the development of electric vehicle operations, PLN must establish an intelligent electric vehicle ecosystem that spans the entire IKN area to realize environmentally friendly transportation.
“PLN is also developing the PLN Hub, which will become the epicenter of Indonesia’s first and largest energy transition and digitalization ecosystem,” he added.
Dr. Radhi argues that as long as IKN is developed according to its original design as a government center, not as an industrial area, the vision of IKN as a Smart City and Green City is achievable.
However, realizing the Smart City and Green City concept will be impossible if the design shifts to include industrial zones and attract foreign investors.
“The reason is simple,” Dr. Radhi explained. “To minimize production costs, factories will still emit polluting smoke, build coal-powered plants, and use fossil fuel vehicles. At that point, IKN as a Smart City and Green City will remain a mere dream, and zero carbon emissions will never be achieved.”
Author: Agung Nugroho
Image: Bisnis.com
Post-editor: Afif