In diesel-dependent East Timor, renewable energy transition remains slow despite government pledges

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — East Timor is at an energy development crossroads.

While the small Southeast Asian nation — and one of the world’s youngest countries — has made international and domestic pledges to reduce its carbon footprint through untapped solar and other renewable energy potential, it faces a looming economic crisis as the gas fields its economy depends on near depletion, hampering its ability to pay for the high cost of transitioning its energy sector.

Access to electricity is a modern development for many of East Timor’s 1.3 million people, after much of the country’s infrastructure was razed by Indonesian forces during the war for independence. Recovery was slow after East Timor gained formal independence in 2002. By 2015, just 60% of the population had access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

Efforts to electrify the country have jumped since then, with 100% of residents having access to electricity since 2021, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Experts said that transmission issues remain, resulting in regular blackouts.

The country’s electricity is generated from heavily polluting diesel oil-powered plants, with small diesel-fired generators serving as a main alternative power source in remote areas, according to Tony Heynen, a coordinator in the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Energy postgraduate program in Australia.

East Timor has made domestic and international commitments to scale up its share of renewable energy generation. In 2016, it was one of nearly 200 countries that signed the United Nations’ Paris Agreement. Its state-owned electric company, Eletricidade de Timor-Leste, updated its strategic development plan to switch from diesel to gas for fuel,