Motivations, Enabling Factors and Barriers to the Energy Transition in Indonesia and Vietnam

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to contribute to a rapidly growing literature on the motivations, enabling factors and barriers to the energy transition in developing countries. We develop and compare the case studies of two developing countries - Indonesia and Vietnam - based on primary data obtained from questionnaires and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders during field surveys in 2015-2018. The main reason for the selection of these countries is the relative similarity of their energy transition paths. Although both Indonesia and Vietnam have made efforts to increase the share of renewable energy in their energy mix, the results so far have not been very encouraging. In particular, the share of energy from intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar is still rather small. Our findings confirm the existing literature's insights about the motivations, the enabling factors and the barriers to the shift to renewables but offer much deeper understanding of some specific enabling factors and barriers. In particular, we elucidate in more depth the concerns of both developing country policymakers and private investors.