The Indonesia Renewable Energy Cooperatives (Kopetindo) in cooperation with private companies of PT Biro Teknik Sinar Baru and PT Solusi Energindo Inovasi intend to establish a wood pellet factory in Bangka Belitung Province.
Kopetindo chairman Widi Pancono said that the joint venture would establish a wood pellet factory in West Bangka to supply the Air Anyir coal-fired power plant. The factory will be located near a potential international port.
“The wood pellet plant will be able to produce 10,000 metric tons per month,” he told the Indonesia Business Post on June 14, 2022.
According to Pancono, the factory will cost the joint operation approximately US$15 million. The joint venture will leverage their equity and bank loans to fund the factory. It aims to obtain bank loans from a German bank. The factory will use technology from Germany.
He added that the joint venture would allow foreign investors and partners to participate in the project.
The wood pellets produced by the factory will be supplied to a coal-fired power plant for co-firing. The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry (ESDM) said in a statement that state-owned electricity company PT PLN has begun converting its Air Anyir coal-fired power plant to use biomass energy.
For the time being, PLN has signed a contract with the Kopetindo joint venture to supply 15,000 tons of wood chips for the Air Anyir coal-fired power plant for one year and the first shipment will start in July 2022.
The Air Anyir coal-fired power plant conducted a test firing on April 19, 2021, using a 5 percent wood chips. The results indicate that the firing met design parameters and was safe. Using 36 tons of biomass, the test was conducted on a 25 MW (megaWatts) gross load.
The joint venture also works closely with farmer groups to establish production forests as well as working with social forests, such as people’s and village forests.
Among the various strategies used by PLN to ensure the continuity of the biomass supply, the company has utilized the use of energy plantations, the use of agricultural and plantation wastes, and dry land use and wastes.
According to Bioenergy Director Edi Wibowo, the energy ministry has formulated a ministerial regulation on the use of biomass for fuel mix at coal-fired power plants to facilitate the use of biomass in co-firing.
Biomass is being used to eliminate coal as an energy source to achieve the 23% carbon emissions target by 2025. Indonesia is implementing the program as part of its efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by the year 2060.
“By substituting some coal with biomass, the co-firing program will increase renewable energy by 1.8%,” Wibowo said.
The demand for biomass for co-firing is anticipated to reach around 10.2 million tons per year in 2025, and the use of co-firing is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 11 million tons.
