RI, India sign agreement on renewable energy

The Indonesian and Indian governments signed on Monday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in new and renewable energy.

The MoU was signed by Director General of New Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) Rida Mulyana and Indian Ambassador for Indonesia and East Timor Gujrit Singh in the presence of Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his Indian counterpart Mohammad Hamid Anshari, who is on visit to Indonesia, as well as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said.

After signing the MoU, Rida explained that under the MoU, both countries will cooperate in six aspects, namely information and technology exchange, project development and join research, technology transfer, promotion and investment, dialog on policies and capacity building.

Indonesia is eager to cooperate with India in view of the country?s success in developing wind and solar power, especially wind power which accounts for 70 percent of the country?s renewable energy, Rida said.

India?s success in developing wind and solar power is ascribed to the fact that the country has strong winds due to its large landmass. ?The wind power potential is huge. That?s why they have a lot of wind farms. What I want to learn from them is how they can produce very cheap power. In other areas, wind power costs around 20 US cents per kWh. In India, the price is lower than that,? he said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon