Jakarta. An Emirati investor is looking to invest in Indonesia’s renewable energy sector by establishing a joint venture with companies under the upcoming sovereign wealth fund Danantara, according to the president’s senior economic advisor Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

The much-awaited investment super holding Danantara is set for launch on Feb. 24. Luhut claimed that the entity, which would consolidate assets of Indonesian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under its wings, was already quite popular among international partners, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Luhut said that he had recently spoken with Emirati Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazroui on this plan.

“The beauty of [Danantara] is that it has the authority to establish a joint venture with any company,” Luhut said at the Indonesia Economic Summit in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“Abu Dhabi says that they wish to move very quickly [in setting up the] joint venture with Danantara, particularly with some of the companies under Danantara for a project on 10 gigawatts of renewable energy,” Luhut said.

Luhut did not give the name of the Emirati investor who wanted to strike a deal with SOEs under Danantara. He also did not say what sort of renewable energy -- be it solar or hydropower -- would the joint venture work on. The Indonesian government is planning to raise its power generation capacity by an additional 71 gigawatts (GW) with a large part of the electricity set to be powered by renewables.

State-owned Emirati renewable energy giant Masdar is already investing in Southeast Asia’s first-ever floating solar power plant Cirata in West Java in partnership with Indonesia’s only electricity provider PLN. The project is often touted as the UAE’s flagship investment project in the Southeast Asian country. In 2024, the two companies had inked a joint development study agreement to raise the plant’s capacity to 500 megawatt alternating current (MWAc). The plant currently boasts a capacity of 192 megawatt-peak.

Danantara is set to manage the assets of seven major SOEs, namely the state-owned banks BRI, BNI, and Bank Mandiri, among others. Energy company Pertamina, PLN, telecommunications giant Telkom, and mining holding MIND ID will also form Danantara’s backbone. The superholding will start off with an initial capital of $20 billion this year. The government estimates that Danantara’s assets under management will exceed $900 billion.

Government data shows that Indonesia attracted $32.7 million from the UAE throughout 2024. This made the Middle Eastern country Indonesia's 37th largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) that year.

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