Indonesia invests in floating solar

Indonesia’s president has opened the biggest floating solar power plant in southeast Asia, on a reservoir west of Jakarta that could be a harbinger of large-scale climate-friendly change. More than any other big Asian country except India, Indonesia is reliant on coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Its coal production and coal’s share of its energy mix have both risen steadily for most of the past decade. The latter now stands at 60 per cent. But Indonesia also has more than 200 reservoirs suitable for floating solar power plants that could deliver a staggering 262 gigawatts of power if 20 per cent covered, according to government estimates. That is nearly 100 times the UK’s total installed renewable capacity. Floating panels are cooled by the water below them, curb evaporation and the growth of algal blooms, can be rotated easily to follow the sun and tend to encounter fewer planning obstacles than those on land. Bloomberg has the scoop.