Jakarta – The palm kernel shells (PKS) from Indonesia have apparently become a prima donna at the global market of renewable energy, especially in Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Poland. The PKS is used as primary bioenergy source to generate power plants.
Indonesia has managed to earn US$250 million in foreign exchange from the PKS exports every year and US$55 million in tax every year.
Data from the Indonesian Association of Palm Shells Business Players (APCASI) shows that during the last decade Indonesia’s production of PKS had been rising. In 2019, its PKS production reached 9.97 million tons, of which 1.72 million tons were exported or around 17.25 percent from the total production.
Currently, Indonesia produces crude palm oil (CPO) at the average of 48 million tons per year. Based on the average of extraction rate in Indonesia, around 23 percent of the total production will be resulted in CPO, while around 5-6 percent into the PKS.
APCASI Chairman Dikki Akhmar said that Indonesia has not yet fully utilized its PKS potential for exports. “So far, we only export 1.7 – 2.0 million tons. That means only around 18 – 20 percent. What about the rest? At certain amount of them are used by the companies themselves, while the others are left to waste and have no commercial value in remote areas,” he said.
But in Japan, especially after the Fukushima nuclear tragedy in 2011, the PKS has been used as source of clean and renewable energy. The Japanese government, through the ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI), has included the PKS into the FIT tariff of its power generation program.
The power plants in Japan that use the PKS for their power generation get incentive of 1.5 Yen per kWh. Until now, Japan has imported around 1.2 million tons of PKS every year.
“So, it makes sense that there are members of APCASI who got long term contracts from the operators of power plants in Japan. Their contracts range from 10 to 15 years,” he said.
Bayu Krisnamurthi, a former chairman of the oil palm plantation fund management board (BPDPKS) said that the rising demand for PKS has indicated that besides the palm oil products, the PKS is also a promising business for Indonesia. “That means that the palm oil companies and smallholders will not only get their income from selling the palm oil products, but also the biomass they produce as waste but can be made to have commercial value. The oil palm plantations are the biggest producers of biomass among all commercial plants. Each hectare of oil palm plantation produces around 28 tons of biomass waste,” said Bayu.
He further said that Indonesia should not repeat the case of natural gas. “We sell it cheap, but then we buy it in the forms of bad quality products at expensive prices. We have to start it now from the PKS and palm kernel cake (PKC), which can be made as a source of ecofriendly energy. “The government should have a well-designed strategy. The PKS and PKC should be also utilized to meet the local need, and not just to meet the rising demand at foreign markets,” he said. (*)
Source: Warta Ekonomi
