Event Reports

EuroCham Energy Working organized member visit to Jawa Power plant in Probolinggo, East Java, on 2-3 April 2018. This activity was initiated by the working group to encourage good practice sharing and transfer of knowledge amongst the members of the group.

As one of the largest Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in Indonesia, Jawa Power has been in commercial operation since 2000 with 1,220 MW coal-fired power station located at Paiton power generation complex in East Java. The company has great concern of the importance of sustaining the surrounding community and improving environmental performance. Thus, the visit not observed activities at power plant, but also CSR activities conducted.

On the first day, the group visited biogas installation at local community areas. The technology and mechanism in household selection, implementation and monitoring of the program were developed by the company and are still under supervision and support by Jawa Power. Later, the group visited to Randutatah Nature Conservation, where around 55,000 mangroves and 35,000 pine trees were planted since 2013. This program at Randutatah beach has contributed to environmental preservation and community empowerment in the area. Sustainability of this program has been secured through involvement of the Probolinggo Government.

On the second day, the group was introduced to the whole cycle of power production from coal pile, boilers, turbine and control room, as well as the ash lagoon. The power plant adopts high quality technologies that resulted in high efficiency and clean outputs. During the visit, EuroCham was informed that Jawa Power was able to significantly reduce the overall ash waste and also invented a new usage of the ash waste for cement or mixture of paving blocks. The power plant also intends to expand their renewables energy utilization using solar power, integrating non-renewable and renewable energy approaches.

The visiting group consisted of representatives from Bahar Partners, Envitec Biogas, Engie, Envitec Biogas, ETA, Eurocham, Geodis Wilson, Schaeffler Bearing, Tecsom, and TUV Nord.

On 29 March 2018, EuroCham Indonesia conducted a seminar on the new World Bank report “Innovation Paradox” together with KADIN Indonesia and The World Bank. The discussion emphasized on the vast potential gains that developing countries, including Indonesia, can gain by innovating in products, processes, and upgrading the quality of goods. The report argues that significant improvements are required from both private-sector firms and public-sector policymakers to move countries closer to the “technological frontier”.

William F. Maloney (Chief Economist of the World Bank Group), emphasized the adoption of better firm-level managerial and organization practices as critical factors that are often overlooked by developing-country firms. He further highlighted the low investment company does in these actions.

From the business perspective, Mr. Tim Grieger (Technical Director of Commercial Vehicles, Mercedes-Benz Indonesia) echoed the findings from the study and shared that supportive management and company culture are important aspects in nurturing innovation culture in the company. These practices are also the building blocks to developing more sophisticated innovation projects that include the invention of new products and technologies.

During the same event, Mr. Maloney also mentioned the urgency in public sector to provide more support that will spur innovative thinking. The report proposes a conceptual framework, the "capabilities escalator," where policies to support firm upgrading are sequenced in accordance with the level of capabilities of the private sector, as well as of policymakers and institutions, and ratchet up through progressively higher stages of sophistication.