Pekanbaru — Deputy Minister of State-owned Enterprises Pahala Nugraha Mansury inaugurated on Monday three units of biogas-based power plants (PTBg) owned by the state-owned plantation companies, PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (Persero), and PT Perkebunan Nusantara V (PTPN V) in Riau province. The biogas is produced from the liquid palm oil waste called palm oil mill effluent (POME).
The three power plants are PTBg Sungai Pagar and PTBg Sei Tapung in Kampar regency, and PTBg Lubuk Dalam in Siak regency, Riau province.
Deputy Minister Pahala said that with the operation of the three PTBg power plants, PTPN V has become Indonesia’s largest state-owned plantation company that generates power plants with biogas from the liquid palm oil waste or palm oil mill effluent (POME).
The company said that the biogas power plants will support the Indonesian government in realizing its commitment to tackle the climate change problem stated by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during the World Leader Summit COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland recently.
“The operation of the PTBg is in line with Indonesia’s commitment to realize Indonesia Net Zero Emissions in 2060. This is not an easy task. But we have to keep pursuing it,” the deputy minister said.
PTPN Group has stated that they are committed to supporting the government in reducing emissions by 29 percent in 2030. “This includes changing of current use of fossil fuels to the renewables. Here, we see it realized through the replacement of previous energy to the use of biogas. PTPN has been in cooperation with BRIN in realizing the decarbonization process,” said Pahala.
The national research and innovation board’s (BRIN) Deputy in charge of research and innovation utilization, Dr Mego Pinandito said that the PTBg program by PTPN V and BRIN is a technological breakthrough to tackle the problems of climate change.
According to him, the utilization of wastes by oil palm plantation companies like the PTPN to produce biogas and generate electricity will drive the circular economy and reduce land and air pollutions in the country.
“The biogas program will help realizing a greener economy in our country. We’ll keep conducting researches and innovations that will help accelerating the realization of zero waste in Indonesia in 2045. BRIN will keep pushing for the increase of technology and research use to achieve the green targets,” he said.
The plantation holding company PTPN III President Director Mohammad Abdul Ghani said that the PTBg in the palm oil mill of Sei Pagar owned by PTPN V stands as an efficient model due to its use of reactor. “Besides improving our efficiency, the PTBg will also provide incentive to our product premium price,” he said.
“We’ve got incentive this year from the ISCC certification of nearly Rp 150 billion, with Rp 40 billion derived from PTPN V. With the operation of PTBg, PTPN V produces biogas, which is partly used to generate electricity and the rest to feed our boilers. We’ll continue to implement this green program,” said Ghani. (*)
Source: JAKARTADAILY.ID
