Industry PhD project title:
Pathways to advancing sustainable transportation: A focus on Indonesia’s EV ecosystem
RACE University and Industry partners:
Monash University Indonesia
PT PLN (Persero)
Previous education and work background:
Bachelor and Master of Electrical Engineering, Universitas Indonesia. Over ten years at PT PLN (Persero) in power distribution. Most recently, Energy Transaction Manager at PLN UP3 Indramayu, responsible for the integrity of every energy transaction point across the unit — metering and revenue assurance, energy balance and loss accounting, and the investigation and follow-up of illegal electricity usage. I began my career as an operation analyst at ENGIE’s Paiton power plant.
What attracted you to the RACE Industry PhD?
It is the rare structure that keeps research and industry in the same room. I can work with real utility data — actual charging transactions, actual siting decisions — instead of proxies, and the findings go straight back to the people who have to build the infrastructure. After ten years on the supply side of the grid, EV charging is where the network finally meets people’s daily mobility choices, and I wanted to study that with evidence rather than assumption.
When you were young, what did you want to be when you were older?
President.
What do you hope to achieve?
An Indonesia that is prosperous on its own energy — where domestic resources are converted into value at home rather than exported raw, and where the benefits of the energy transition reach ordinary households, not only the cities that were already well served.
What are you most looking forward to?
Building an EV charging ecosystem underpinned by blockchain — transparent energy transactions, dynamic pricing, and interoperability between operators — and finding the partners and collaborators to build it with.
What innovation/change would you like to see in 5-10 years’ time?
Charging infrastructure planned from demand evidence instead of land availability, with equity treated as a design constraint rather than an afterthought. Alongside that, distribution utilities using their own data — metering, transactions, network telemetry — as a live planning instrument rather than a reporting archive.
Fun fact about you:
I train Muay Thai, MMA, jiu-jitsu and tennis. There was a stretch where my house looked more like a gym than a house — mats, bags and rackets in every room.
Favourite quote
“Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth and social equity.” — Ban Ki-moon
