Jakarta. Indonesia has signaled that the Singapore-bound green electricity exports will not take place anytime soon, as Jakarta grows more protective of its domestic supplies.

Indonesia has planned to supply at least 3.4 gigawatts (GW) of green power to Singapore by 2035 to narrow the gap caused by the neighbor’s limited land area and renewable energy sources. The fellow ASEAN nations have been working on the approvals and necessary frameworks for the first electrons to be able to flow into Singapore.

Amid the bad haze and natural gas export cuts, the Indonesian government revealed Monday that it was reconsidering the plan. 

“To this day, we are still evaluating the stages of the electricity exports to other countries. Our domestic electricity demand is pretty huge. I doubt the export will happen in the near future,” Chief Energy Transition Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told reporters, while avoiding mentioning Singapore by name. 

“We will reassess everything by making the necessary calculations.”

Bahlil has previously insisted that the Singaporean electricity export would hinge on the price, saying that Jakarta — as the supplier — should be the one to decide the tariff. 

Singapore intends to import 6 GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035. Malaysia, Vietnam, and even Australia are some of the other likely suppliers. Bahlil’s statement means a setback for ASEAN’s goal of connecting its electricity networks. 

The plan was a major theme during Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s visit to Jakarta in July. Wong at the time told President Prabowo Subianto that the export is a “win-win for both countries”.

Sovereign wealth fund Danantara — whose portfolio includes the state-run utility firm PLN — even inked multiple memoranda of understanding (MoUs) that lay out the offtake aspects and other technical issues. 

According to earlier reports by local news outlets, parts of the Indonesian electricity are expected to flow from Batam, the country’s data center hub, which recently saw major power outages.

Bilateral relations are now under pressure as toxic smoke from Kalimantan forest fires chokes Singapore. Ties have also taken another beating after Indonesia decided to reduce its pipeline gas exports, although Bahlil claimed that the reductions did not breach any Singaporean contract. 

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