Sidrap: A Study of the Factors That Led to the Development of Indonesia’s First Large-Scale Wind Farm

The first utility-scale (75 MW) wind farm facility in Indonesia (the “Sidrap” project) was launched in South Sulawesi in early 2018. In this case study, we assess how several factors contributed to the successful development of the Sidrap project including strong signals of support from the Indonesian Government; long-term local presence of private sector partners; familiarity of private sector partners with the risks and nuances of investing in Indonesia; and an innovative private-public sector partnership model. In the last 2 years, Indonesia’s electricity sector has changed much in terms of pricing policy and private sector involvement. Much effort has been directed toward the Indonesian Government meeting its renewable energy deployment target of 23% of the total energy mix by 2025. The question remains, however, on whether Indonesia will be able to develop additional renewable energy projects to Sidrap in the future, given the continuing changes and uncertainty in Indonesian’s renewable energy policy and politics.