Energy company PT Kaltimex Energy is inviting foreign investors and banks to participate in the financing of its two biomass projects in Indonesia.
The company – which also operates in Bangladesh, Singapore, the Philippines and Myanmar – aims to become a leading company to provide distributed power in Indonesia. Kaltimex already obtained an IPP (independent power producer) license to operate a 23 MW (megaWatts) power plant for a textile company in Central Java.
Commissioner Widi Pancono said the company was open to investment and loan offers from banks and investors.
“It depends on what they offer. The offer can be a loan or a capital injection. We can discuss it, provided that both parties agree on the terms,” he said to Indonesia Business Post on April 20, 2022.
Kaltimex’s first biomass project is a waste-to-fuel facility in Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Belitung province. The facility can process approximately 100 tons of waste per day and produce about 15,000-kiloliters of biodiesel per year.
“The facility can convert all kinds of waste that have energy value, including plastic and organic waste, into biofuel,” Pancono said, adding that the technology can extract carbon and hydrogen from any waste containing energy value.
The project will cost US$20 million. Around 30% of the project’s cost will be funded by the company’s equity, while a bank loan will finance 70%.
“We are seeking loans from foreign banks,” said Pancono, emphasizing that the interest rate should be below 5% and on an eight-year term.
Kaltimex will use pyrolysis technology that employs non-oxygen heating to produce carbon monoxide and nitrogen. A synthesis process and catalyst will be used to liquefy the gas and produce. The technology will be from South Korea and Japan. The biodiesel produced by the facility will be distributed to foreign and domestic markets.
The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase will begin in the first semester of 2023 and will be completed by 2024.
The second project is a bio-CNG (bio-compressed natural gas) plant in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.
“Kaltimex Energy will build a bio-CNG facility that will produce eight tons of bio-CNG each day,” Pancono said. He added that the final product would be a replacement for 50kg industrial LPG cylinders.
The project will cost the company around US$12 million, 30% of which will come from equity and 70% from bank loans. Currently, the company is in discussions with several domestic and foreign banks.
Using German technology, the facility will enable mass fermentation using organic eating bacteria that consume corn cobs and produce gas. “We take the gas and purify it, leaving only methane behind,” Pancoro said.
The bio-CNG will be sold in the domestic market, including for tourism industry, such as hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, Islamic boarding schools, malls, and other sectors that require LPG.
Construction of the project will begin in the second semester of 2022 and be completed in 2023.
Pancono said the government supports the pilot projects for the transition to renewable energy in Indonesia. The government will provide incentives for these two projects with tax holidays, free import duties and biofuel industry regulations.
This is part of the government’s program to utilize renewable energy sources. As an archipelago, Indonesia is an ideal location for small biomass and renewable energy facilities capable of supplying local needs and demands. There is no need for the government or private sector to transport fuels and other energy sources to thousands of small islands in Indonesia.
