The joint statement of intent declares that the renewable energy resources of Indonesia can economically supply its energy and industrial needs as long as they are developed rapidly and at a large scale so there is abundant and cheap supply.
Adaro played a big part inRio Tinto’s exit from coalin 2018 when it was part of the consortium that purchased the Kestrel mine in Queensland for $US2.5 billion.
Dr Forrest has predicted the demise of Australia’s coal industry as part of a rapid transition to green hydrogen and green steel production, with Fortescue aiming to be carbon neutral within nine years.
Green transition
FFI said Adano was committed to a transition into renewable green energies in Indonesia. It remains unclear if the two companies intend to work together on hydro and thermal projects.
“FFI, together with Adaro, will keenly support the conversion of Indonesia’s fossil fuel-driven economy to zero emissions renewable energy,” Dr Forrest said in a statement.
“FFI is committed to being a thought-leader, investor, and developer of major green energy projects and we look forward to continuing to work with the Indonesian government to achieve their goals.”
The Indonesian government and the provincial governments of North Kalimantan and Papua are behind the push to lower emissions more quickly in the world’s fourth most populated nation.
World tour
Dr Forrest and a big Fortescue team visited 47 countries last year, signing renewable and green energy project agreements with Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uzbekistan.
His latest trip has included a visit to Japan, where he held talks with potential investors and green energy customers. It is understood Dr Forrest has also been in South Korea.
In an interview from Japan last week, Dr Forrest outlined plans to again visit many countries undaunted by contracting COVID-19 and spending three days in Swiss hospital during his previous world tour.
“We are currently speaking to a really large customer base,” he said.
“We’ll be going through Asia, we’ll be going up into Europe and then we’ll also be speaking to our big supplier bases which are in Africa, central Asia, Asia itself of course.
“Australia will be a huge and very reliable supplier and let’s not forget Latin America where we also have very large operations emerging.”
FFI said it was seeking to harness the world’s undeveloped renewable energy resources to develop green hydrogen and other green industrial products through a large-scale global supply chain across three major production hubs – Australasia, Latin America and Europe-Africa.
Fortescue has committed 10 per cent of future profits towards FFI projects, a move that could pump more than $1 billion a year into the cleanenergy ventureexpected to eventually involve multibillion-dollar investments.
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