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, while aiming for renewables to provide up to 50% of the country's energy mix by 2030.

Renewable energy potential is strong in East Timor, according to the Asian Development Bank, with almost the entire territory having the potential to successfully generate solar energy. Other renewable sources include hydropower, wind and biofuel.

The development of renewable energy would help the country diversify its economy and bolster its agricultural sector, according to Charles Scheiner, a researcher with the East Timor nongovernmental organization La’o Hamutuk. Seventy percent of families rely on farming for their livelihoods, according to a report by the World Bank and ADB.

“Dependable energy, including electricity, would greatly improve people’s daily lives," Scheiner wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

“Renewable, decentralized sources are the most consistently reliable way to provide it," he said, noting the potential to develop smaller solar grids or homes with individual solar panels around the country.

But transitioning energy production and/or building new energy sources are expensive, and East Timor faces severe financial challenges as the gas fields that provide a majority of its gross domestic product near depletion, said Michael Leach, a professor at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.

“There’s a concern that by around 2035, (the government) will run out of money at the rate they’re spending it at the moment,” Leach said.

East Timor's current power plants, which were built with large investments from the government in recent decades, can also produce far more electricity than the country demands, lowering the imperative for the country to switch systems, Heynen said.

Still, East Timor's government has expressed interest in transitioning its energy sector. In 2020, it hired energy consultants to conduct a feasibility study for supplying natural gas to the three power plants. In 2021, it announced tendering for solar parks and a feasibility study for hydropower schemes.

But the findings have not been implemented, Scheiner said.

East Timor President José Ramos-Horta told The Associated Press in an interview in Dili last week that his country is interested in exploring various types of renewable energy sources, including wind, sea and especially solar power.

“We have plenty of sun,” he said, adding that the cost of solar technology continues to fall.

“So far, we’re still in the infancy of renewable” energy development, he said. “For us, moving towards renewables or solar in 10, 20 years from now is (an) even better option because by then, the technology will be so much more reliable and so much cheaper.”

AP requests for interviews sent to EDTL Empresa Publica, the minister of planning and strategic investment, and the secretary of state for electricity, water and sanitation all went unanswered.

Ramos-Horta has also called on the international community to support the country's energy transition, citing its vulnerability to climate change.

Adam Schreck contributed reporting from Dili, East Timor.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Streetlights are seen at sunset in Dili, East Timor Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A solar panel is seen next to an East Timor national flag in Dili, East Timor, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Vendors sell vegetables with battery supported lights at a market in Dili, East Timor Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A barber gives a haircut in Dili, East Timor, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A man stands next to a generator at an office in Dili, East Timor, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A man sells electricity credit at a shop in Dili, East Timor Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A street light is seen during a sunrise in Dili, East Timor Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

GENEVA (AP) — Independent U.N. human rights experts said in a new report Tuesday that their findings show Venezuela's government has intensified the use of “harshest and most violent" tools of repression following the disputed July presidential election.

The official results of the July 28 vote have been widely criticized as undemocratic, opaque and aimed to maintain President Nicolás Maduro in power.

In its report, the fact-finding mission on Venezuela, commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, denounced rights violations including arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence by the country's security forces that “taken as a whole, constitute the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds.”

“During the period covered by this report, and especially after the presidential election of July 28, 2024, the state reactivated and intensified the harshest and most violent mechanisms of its repressive apparatus,” said the experts in the report, which covered a one-year period through Aug. 31.

The findings echo concerns from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Human Rights Watch, and others about Venezuela and its democracy, including repression before and after the highly anticipated vote and the subsequent flight into exile of Venezuela's opposition leader Edmundo González.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, said he won with 52% of the vote. But opposition supporters collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation's electronic voting machines, and said that indicated González had won the election — with twice as many votes as Maduro.

Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, whose members are aligned with the ruling party, to audit the results. The high court reaffirmed his victory.

The independent experts, who do not represent the United Nations, decried the government's efforts to crush peaceful opposition to its rule.

The justice system — led by the Supreme Tribunal — “is clearly subordinated” to the interests of Maduro and his close allies and served as a “key instrument in its plan to repress all forms of political and social opposition,” they wrote.

In the hours after Maduro was declared the winner, thousands of people took to the streets across Venezuela. The protests were largely peaceful, but demonstrators also toppled statues of Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, threw rocks at law enforcement officers and buildings, and burned police motorcycles and government propaganda.

Maduro's government responded to the demonstrations with full force, carrying out arbitrary detentions, prosecutions as well as a campaign that encourages people to report relatives, neighbors and other acquaintances who participated in the protests or cast doubt on the results.

The independent experts said they compiled the report through interviews with 383 people and reviews of court case files and other documents while also acknowledging limits to their information-gathering in the post-election period.

The experts said their requests for information from Venezuelan authorities were “ignored” despite appeals for cooperation from the rights council, which is made up of a rotating membership among 47 U.N. member countries.

Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists gathered at the presidential palace in support of his reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

FILE - Protesters clash with police during demonstrations against the official election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro's reelection, the day after the vote in Caracas, Venezuela, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)