Timor-Leste and renewable energy
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, is a small island nation in Southeast Asia that faces significant energy challenges. Since gaining independence from Indonesia in 2002, it has struggled with a weak energy infrastructure and a heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels, despite having rich offshore gas reserves in the Timor Sea. The country ranks among the lowest in the world for energy consumption per capita, with a majority of the population living in rural areas lacking access to electricity. The Timorese government recognizes the need for energy diversification and has committed to developing renewable energy sources as part of its strategy to enhance energy security, protect the environment, and improve access to electricity.
To address these issues, a rural electrification plan was initiated in 2010, focusing on community-level renewable energy projects. These initiatives include biogas plants, biofuel production, microhydropower installations, and solar photovoltaic systems, all intended to empower local communities and stimulate sustainable energy production. The aim is to create energy surplus that can be sold to the national grid, ultimately promoting energy independence and supporting economic development in one of Southeast Asia's poorest nations.
Subject Terms
Timor-Leste and renewable energy
Official Name: Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.
Summary: East Timor has not yet developed rich oil and natural gas deposits, given some disputes over its sovereignty, and remains dependent on imported fossil fuels while investigating sources for small-scale renewable energy.
East Timor (Timor-Leste) occupies half of the mountainous island of Timor, which is the size of Connecticut and lies roughly 400 miles northwest of Australia and about 1,000 miles due south of the southernmost tip of the Philippines. Since attaining full independence from Indonesia in 2002, East Timor has struggled to rebuild its war-damaged infrastructure, of which that supporting its national energy sector is key. Rich offshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Timor Sea have attracted international interest for decades and continue to be a source of both political controversy and economic promise for one of the poorest nations in southeast Asia.
East Timor has one of the lowest levels of energy consumption per capita in the world, ranking 193rd as of 2008. In 2022, its electricity consumption was 414.76 million kilowatt-hours. Imported fossil fuels are the primary source of energy for the country, but access to this energy is highly uneven. A majority of East Timorese live in rugged mountainous areas, and only 5 percent of these households are connected to the electricity grid. Those who are connected face lengthy blackouts and inordinate prices; retail electricity prices are broadly comparable to Australian prices, despite per capita gross domestic product (GDP) being approximately 100 times lower. Many households collect firewood as a daily source of energy for cooking and heating.
Natural Gas Reserves
The Timor Sea, which lies between the island of Timor and the northwest coast of Australia, possesses a vast and complex range of gas fields. Among the largest of these are the Greater Sunrise fields, which are estimated to contain 8 trillion cubic feet of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate and could generate upward of $40 billion over a projected thirty years of extraction. Greater Sunrise has the potential to support liquefied natural gas, methanol, power generation, and other gas-based industries, including mineral processing, but the commercialization of these lucrative reserves has been delayed because of political controversy.
The Greater Sunrise fields, located 310 miles north of the Australian coast and 110 miles south of East Timor, were first identified during offshore exploration of the Bonaparte Basin in 1974. Portugal, which colonized East Timor in the sixteentth century, began negotiating agreements on drilling concessions in the Timor Sea with two US oil companies: Adobe Gas and Oceanic Exploration Corporation. This arrangement was curtailed when, in 1975, East Timor was granted independence from Portugal and subsequently was invaded and occupied by the Indonesian military. Australia, a strong supporter of Indonesia’s takeover of East Timor, used the transition of power as an opportunity to renegotiate maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea. In 1989, Indonesia and Australia signed the Timor Gap Treaty, which established guidelines for joint development of the “gap” left by then-Portuguese Timor in a preexisting boundary between Indonesia and Australia. The two countries agreed to split revenues from the Timor Gap 50–50, and two petroleum companies, Woodside Energy (Australia) and ConocoPhillips (United States), began development in 1992.
However, resource governance in the Timor Sea was called into question yet again in 2002: East Timor, having finally achieved full independence from Indonesia, promptly rejected the Timor Gap Treaty signed by its former occupier. Ever since, development of Greater Sunrise and neighboring gas fields has occurred in a piecemeal and halting fashion, the process disrupted by regular disagreements between the Timorese and Australian governments over which companies are contracted, who controls the extracted gas and condensate, and how revenues are split. Amid these uncertain juridical boundaries, the exercise of Timorese sovereignty is further complicated by its vulnerable position as a newly independent country. East Timor is struggling to recover from twenty-four years of bloody guerrilla warfare with occupying Indonesian forces—almost a third of the entire East Timorese population was killed between 1976 and 1999—and a violent Indonesian withdrawal that destroyed about 80 percent of the territory’s government buildings and infrastructure. With very little surviving local industry, the country is heavily dependent on imports and currently relies on preferential access to Australian markets. East Timor is, thus, in the awkward position of trying to reinforce friendly relations with Australia while simultaneously competing with it for control over the lucrative gas reserves that lie in the ocean between them.
This kind of dispute over international maritime boundaries would normally be adjudicated by the United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). However, Australian prime minister John Howard withdrew from the ITLOS in 2002, shortly before the Timorese transition to independence. In its place are three treaties—the Timor Sea Treaty, the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea, and the International Unitization Agreement for Greater Sunrise—that govern maritime arrangements between Australia and East Timor. These treaties require both countries to set aside boundary disputes in the Timor Sea for 50 years, and they define a joint petroleum development area (JPDA), the revenues from which are to be split 50–50. Production yields from the Greater Sunrise reservoirs are apportioned according to a 20.1:79.9 ratio, with 20.1 percent apportioned to the JPDA and 79.9 percent apportioned to Australia. Four companies—Woodside Energy (Australia), ConocoPhilips (United States), Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), and Osaka Gas (Japan)—partnered to commercialize these vast reserves and stated expectations for production to come online by 2013. However, operations on Greater Sunrise were suspended pending an independent regulator investigation into alleged violations of the Timor Sea Treaty by Woodside Energy and its partners. As of the early 2020s, production had still not begun but was slated to begin between 2028 to 2030.
Renewable Energy Sources
East Timor is one of the most fossil-fuel-dependent countries in the world, given its reliance on imported petroleum for current consumption and its financial stake in the exploitation of nearby natural gas fields. However, the Timorese government has declared a broad commitment to alternative and renewable energy production as a means to reduce dependence on foreign imports, protect the local and global environment, and also increase access to electricity for Timorese residents. In 2010, the Secretariat of State for Energy Policy began implementing its rural electrification plan, in which the following energy production projects are to be developed in rural communities at their request: small- and medium-capacity biogas plants, oilseed cultivation and distilleries for the production of biofuel, microhydropower plants, and solar photovoltaic (PV) power units.
These energy production projects are to be initiated and managed at the community level, with the Timorese government providing technical and financial assistance. Each project is designed to produce more energy than required by local consumption needs, so that the community can sell excess power to the national electricity network.
Bibliography
"Greater Sunrise Development." NS Energy, 28 Sept. 2022, www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/greater-sunrise-development/?cf-view&cf-closed. Accessed 30 July 2024.
"Timor-Leste." The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, 24 July 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/timor-leste/. Accessed 29 July 2024.
"Timor-Leste." International Renewable Energy Agency, 8 Aug. 2023, www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Statistics/Statistical‗Profiles/Asia/Timor-Leste‗Asia‗RE‗SP.pdf. Accessed 30 July 2024.
US Energy Information Administration. “International Energy Statistics: Timor Leste (East Timor).” http://www.eia.doe.gov/countries/country-data. Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.