Jakarta. The Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Tuesday that Indonesia had secured a $2 billion worth of investment commitment in the renewable energy sector during its business gathering with European firms.

However, the ministry refused to say much about the investor. Even so, the government has dropped some clues about this investment commitment that was expected to fast-track the country's energy transition.

The first hint is that the Southeast Asian country had recorded the deal at the still-ongoing Indonesian-Europe Business Forum (IEBF) in Jakarta. This forum took place back-to-back with INA-LAC, another business gathering that brings together Indonesian as well as Latin American and Caribbean firms. Businesses that attended the IEBF came from 33 European countries.

But with a non-disclosure agreement in place, Indonesian senior diplomat Umar Hadi refused to say the investor’s identity nor in which part of Europe the investor came from.

"So we saw an investment commitment in the renewable energy sector. We cannot announce who the investor is. Because there is still a non-disclosure agreement," Umar told reporters shortly after the INALAC-IEBF forum in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to Umar, the investment commitment is “worth approximately fivefold” of the transaction deals that the INA-LAC and the IEBF had recorded.

Government estimates showed that the INA-LAC and IEBF had generated at least $482 million as of Tuesday evening. This was the accumulated total of the business transactions --both concrete and potential ones-- as well as the signed cooperation agreements. It is likely that the number will continue to rise as the IEBF will still go on until Wednesday.

Who is the Investor?

A 2023 IEBF handbook listed cooperation between Ecoener-Dredolf as one of the “newly signed MoUs”.

Ecoener is a Spanish renewable energy developer. Dredolf is an Indonesian company that focuses on operations and maintenance for power generation and electrical distribution. When asked by the press if the $2 billion investment commitment referred to the cooperation between Ecoener and Dredolf, Umar said: “No comment.”

However, Umar did say that Ecoener was exploring cooperation with an Indonesian company, without referring to the two firms by name. 

Major European investments appear to coming Indonesia's way. Just last week, Umar revealed that a European company was already serious about building a nickel smelter in Indonesia. But again, the diplomat refused to say much about this project.

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