Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Tesla Inc. reportedly contacted the Indonesian government again regarding its plans to invest in a giant power bank project or energy storage system (ESS). This is after two years, the electric car manufacturer from the US has never executed its plan to invest in the country.
Deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Kemenko Marves) Septian Hario Seto said his party was still in discussions with Tesla regarding investment plans in Indonesia. However, he did not go into detail about the discussion.
This is because Indonesia is bound by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) aka an agreement to prohibit information disclosure. But for sure, Tesla is more interested in investing in energy storage system (ESS) projects than electric batteries.
“Their ESS technology is quite good. They have invested in Australia, it looks like they have succeeded there, I think they want to develop a link in Indonesia,” said Seto in Closing Bell CNBC Indonesia, Wednesday (30/3/2022).
According to Seto, the demand for ESS in Indonesia is expected to be quite large. Moreover, the government is currently focusing on making an energy transition by boosting the construction of solar power plants or PLTS.
“I think it takes this ESS on a large scale to ensure a stable electricity supply. The energy produced by solar panels is stored first or to stabilize the output. I think there is a big demand for ESS because not all regions in Indonesia have geothermal,” he said.
As is known, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan revealed that he was again contacted by Tesla and Tesla stated that he would make a “deal” with Indonesia.
“This morning I got a call from America, Tesla, saying he wanted to make a deal with us,” he said at the MURI Record Submission and Closing Ceremony Business Matching Shopping for Domestic Products 2022 in Nusa Bali, Thursday (24/3/2022).
In response to this desire, Luhut said, two years ago, Tesla’s management had contacted and expressed the same intention. Luhut also seemed annoyed with Tesla’s “hanging” investment plan.
He emphasized that Indonesia could not be dictated by potential investors from anywhere.
“Everyone wants to dictate. I said: hey you can not do thisI told him: Today is different. We have to be the same. I said you can’t do that anymore. This country is not banana republic. This country is a great country,” said Luhut.
Luhut also invited Tesla to invest in the country. However, Luhut also reminded that Indonesia had an agreement with the Chinese company CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) and the South Korean company LG.
“I said fine. But I don’t want you to come to a deal, don’t make conditions for us. I made conditions for you because that’s what I did to China. China has never given me conditions. I gave conditions, you want no, if we have to go B to B, you have to transfer technology, you have to be first class technology, you have to be environmentally friendly, he told me it’s a good deal. We’ll do that,” he explained.
(roy/roy)
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