Context:
Demand for energy is growing rapidly in Indonesia. However, renewable energies continue to make only a small contribution to the country’s electricity supply. As a result, the provision of energy is having an increasing impact on the country’s CO2 emissions. Energy-related emissions are expected to be the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions as early as 2024 and will account for up to 70 per cent of total emissions by 2030.
One of the sectors with the fastest-growing requirement for electricity is commercial and industrial cooling. However, the refrigeration sector also offers great potential for increasing energy efficiency, integrating renewable energies through photovoltaic systems and thus reducing and avoiding climate-damaging emissions in the long term. At the same time, the use of decentralised, renewable energies creates cost benefits by avoiding transport and fuel costs for electricity generation.
Objective:
Solar energy can be utilised technically and economically in cold chains. It is helping to drive forward climate-friendly change in key economic sectors across the country.
Approach:
The project works closely with Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) and Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) to standardise the use of solar technologies in cold chains and supply chains.
The project also promotes the formation of technology partnerships between applied research and industry. They develop needs-based, economically and technically viable solutions for solar cold chains. These technologies, for example solar cold stores or solar ice production plants, are to be disseminated in important economic sectors such as fisheries and will help to reduce CO2 emissions in national and international supply chains.
Last updated: November 2025