Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, revealed that the government is still withholding the issuance of technical rules and electricity export permits to Singapore. This decision was made because negotiations on energy pricing have not yet reached a common ground.
Although a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding cross-border electricity trade has been agreed upon since June 2025 with an investment value reaching 10 billion US dollars, Bahlil emphasized that the government will not rush to issue regulations before mutually beneficial commercial aspects are secured. According to him, the licensing framework will be drafted as soon as a price agreement figure is approved by the business players involved.
This ambitious project, which includes the development of solar panel infrastructure, carbon capture technology (CCS), and industrial estates, has actually received strong support at the head of state level. In a recent *Leaders' Retreat*, President Prabowo Subianto and Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating cross-border electricity trade cooperation.
A number of industry players, including PT Vanda Energy Indonesia, expressed their readiness to begin physical construction as the project is already at the *ready-to-build* stage. However, they are still waiting for the government's move to finalize the export permits as the main legal umbrella, considering that cross-border energy trading schemes are still relatively new in the Southeast Asian region.
Responding to this dynamic, a researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Muhammad Indra Al Irsyad, assessed that electricity exports present a major opportunity to boost the country's foreign exchange earnings. He emphasized the importance of technological self-reliance in building environmentally friendly power plants so that Indonesian energy products have a more competitive bargaining power when entering international markets.
