TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Director General of New Renewable Energy and Energy Conversion (EBTKE) for the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is planning a program that would impose mandatory conversion of palm waste to energy.

“Palm oil mill must convert POME [palm oil mill effluent] to electricity,” EBTKE director general Rida Mulyana said in an event titled Biogas and Waste to Energy Indonesia Forum 2017 in Jakarta on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

Rida said that the Energy Ministry is currently deliberating on the regulation with the Environment and Forestry Ministry.

He elaborated that over 800 palm oil mills in Sumatra and Kalimantan generate liquid and solid waste.

Palm oil solid waste can be processed into biomass fuel to generate up to 700 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Liquid waste, that contains methane, can be converted into biogas. Palm oil mills, however, prefer to burn liquid waste, an activity that could endanger the environment.

He added that the program would provide financial benefits to palm oil mills as well as help the government fulfills its commitment to support climate action i.e. reduce carbon footprint.

Moreover, the government is aiming to provide new renewable energy source of 23 percent by 2025.

Rida said that many developing countries still rely on fossil fuel, such as oil, gas and coal that will become scarcer in 2025.

Therefore, the Energy Ministry continues to push regulation to increase the use of new renewable energy, including through Energy Ministry’s Regulation No. 12/2017 on new renewable energy investment in eastern part of Indonesia.

BISNIS.COM