Aquatera helps host Indonesian Energy Ministry and British Embassy delegation during COP 26

November 8th 2021

The Aquatera team as one of the delivery partners of the UK-Indonesia governments’ Mentari low carbon energy partnership have been very busy over recent months preparing to help host the Indonesian Energy Ministry and British Embassy delegation around the COP 26 event in Glasgow. 

Aquatera has been working with the UK government on energy transition for over eight years, building capacity, understanding and an increasingly progressive vision of what a just carbon transition looks like and how it can be best delivered in Indonesia, and where Indonesia might be able to help the UK in its own transition journey.

The various visits and events attended by the Indonesian delegation were designed to build mutual ambition, confidence and collaboration between the UK, Indonesia and other global partners in order to help tackle the challenges we all face in the low carbon transition. 

The delegation visited several renewable energy projects, held meetings with major investors, project and technology developers and held policy discussions about decarbonisation pathways in Indonesia and the UK.

These activities were designed to help build a common understanding about the potential for ambitious energy transition and how the different stakeholders can best contribute.

Aquatera’s contribution has been led by Leuserina Garniati and Gareth Davies and has been supported by a number of other specialists in the Aquatera team based in Orkney, across Europe and Asia, and in Indonesia itself. 

Their input has been delivered within the UK Government’s Mentari programme, which is delivered by a consortium led by Palladium International, Economic Consulting Associates (ECA), Hivos, and Castlerock Asia.

This progressive and innovative programme was devised by a dedicated and imaginative team within the UK Embassy in Jakarta who have worked tirelessly to develop a strong mutual understanding between stakeholders about the needs and opportunities associated with carbon transition in Indonesia.

The programme focusses on energy policy and regulatory reform; demonstrating projects showcasing innovative renewable technologies and productive uses of power; brokering £1bn investment in renewable projects; and collaborating and networking with international and domestic partners.

Indonesia has some remarkable challenges and opportunities related to renewables.  The scale of the country creates incredible diversity in the energy markets that need to be decarbonised and in the rich renewable resources that are available.

The Aquatera team have had a special focus on Blue Economy markets in Indonesia and the associated Blue Energy resources of solar, wind, tide wave and thermal energy.

The team have blended the huge breadth of experience established in Orkney and other parts of the world with a strong understanding of the local and regional conditions and circumstances in the various parts of Indonesia with a special focus on island transition in the archipelago.

As a finale to the COP engagement process Aquatera will be taking members of the Indonesian negotiating team to Orkney to see for themselves how a progressive island community can be a pioneer in decarbonisation efforts, and how this may be replicated in Indonesia.

Approximately eight previous Indonesian delegations have visited Orkney along with a growing number of research, study and commercial links.  The insights these visits and activities provide and the confidence they build have been instrumental in building collective ambition for accelerated carbon transition.

At a time when we need to be able to demonstrate and support the ‘art of the possible’ the strong links that have been established between Orkney and Indonesia through the Aquatera team, supported by the UK Embassy and Indonesian Energy Ministry, and delivered through the Mentari programme serve as a great example of best practise and practical achievement.

Editors notes:

Photo 1: (Credit British Embassy Jakarta) The Indonesian Energy Minister, Mr Arifin Tasrif and his team with the ReFLEX Tesla outside the University of Strathclyde’s PNDC facility.

Photo 2: (Credit British Embassy Jakarta) The Indonesian Energy Minister, Mr Arifin Tasrif and his team at Whitelee Windfarm outside of Glasgow.

For more information on Mentari, please visit https://mentari.info/

For more information on Aquatera's work with Indonesia, please contact Leuserina Garniati at Leuserina.Garniati@aquatera.co.uk.