g, IPB
And Indonesian Renewable Energy Society (IRES),
PO Box 220, Darmaga Campus of IPB, Darmaga, Bogor, 16002. Indonesia,
Tel./Fax.: +62 251 621886/7; E-mail: kdin@bogor.wasantara.net.id


ABSTRACT

It is estimated that Indonesia produces 146.7 million tons of biomass per year, equivalent to
about 470 GJ/y. The source of biomass energy is scattered all over the country, but the big
potential in concentrated scale can be found in the Island of Kalimantan, Sumatera, Irian Jaya
and Sulawesi. Recently, the Indonesian government had issued several policies which put higher
priority on the utilization of renewable energy. For example, renewable energy is being
prioritized as the sole source of energy for the newly launched program called the distributed
Small Power System, in which small power producers can generate electricity up to one MW
and interconnected to the medium and low voltage national grid, and to be purchased by the
national utility company (the PLN) at some percentages of the locally determined basic sales
price.

Key words: Small power producer, Distributed power system, Green energy insight


1. INTRODUCTION

The rapid depletion of our oil reserve, with R/P (Reserve/ Production) of 18 years will force Indonesia to
find alternative energy supply to sustain economic development (Dasuki, 2000). In the future Indonesias
energy consumption is expected to increase along with economic recovery sometimes in 2003. The
Directorate General of Electricity and Energy Utilization (DGEEU) (Maryam Ayuni, 2000), has
estimated that the total energy consumption, excluding biomass energy, will increase from 376.22 MBOE
(million Barrel of Oil Equivalent) to 474.36 MBOE in 2003 or an increment of 26%. The highest energy
demand is expected to come from the transportation sector while the household sector will remain at the
third place.

Rural development in the developing country such as Indonesia should be directed to provide access to
basic energy services to produce the basic human needs for food, shelter and clothing. In addition,
economic recovery for Indonesia should begin from rural development, where renewable energy sources
are already existing to help SMEs, in processing the potential natural resources in the area. In this respect
renewable energy, such as solar, wind, micro-hydro and biomass, is usually available in the rural area and
hence, by transforming and converting these sources of energy to power various processing machines,
added value of agricultural and marine products can be made. This in turn will provide more job
opportunity to the people in the rural area and ultimately lead to gradual improvement in the quality of
their life.

Biomass resources can be transformed into different kind of foods and energy. Solid biomass is
commonly used as fuel for cooking and other thermal processes in small and medium industries, as fuel
for boilers, but can also be transformed into gaseous and liquid fuel such as in the form of ethanol and
bio-diesel. The rapid depletion of fossil fuel in Indonesia, has increase R/D efforts and activities related to
biomass conversion technology. The Energy Minister had created a special task force, in 2001 in order to
study any tangible results and breakthroughs of these efforts and recommend any required regulatory
policy and incentives to promote renewable energy in the country.

This paper will describe some of the results of these efforts and potential markets for biomass energy
application in Indonesia
2
2. RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA

Shown in Fig.1 is the projection of energy supply and demand as predicted using the Hubbert curve
(1983) and consumption data from the DGEEU (2001). According to this figure, Indonesia will become
net oil importing country within the next 10-20 years if the energy demand will follow past trends even
when conservation program is implemented and drastic improvement in energy efficiency could be
achieved. Despite of the high renewable energy potential in Indonesia as shown in Table 1, only a small
amount had been utilized effectively to help in reducing pressure on the depleting oil resources. In
relation to the coming era of energy crisis, Indonesia has to accelerate the use renewable energy sources,
particularly biomass and geothermal energy .which have a significant impact due to bigger power
generation capacity per unit while gas and coal have been exported to earn important sources of foreign
exchange beside oil. In addition, the promotion of renewable energy utilization can trigger rural
industrialization in the form of SMEs and cooperatives to help in increasing added value of natural
resources in various regions of the country, create more employment opportunity, and ultimately improve
the overall quality of life of the people living in the rural areas.

Recently, to accelerate the utilization of renewable energy in Indonesia, the DGEEU, had issued a draft of
new energy policy in order to promote further the development of renewable energy sources, improve
energy efficiency and GHG abatement last June 2002 and is called the green energy insight. In addition,
Ministerial Decree No.1122 K/30/MEM/2002 on Distributed Small Power Generation (PSK Tersebar),
has come into effect starting June 12 2002. This decree will provide opportunity for small power
producers such as the cooperative to generate electricity up to 1 MW from renewable energy and
interconnected to the medium and low tension grid and will be purchased by PLN at 80% and 60%,
respectively at the medium and low tension interconnection. The formulation of government regulation
for the medium and higher power generation capacity from renewable energy is now underway.

Q(t)= Q30/(1+a exp(-b(t-1930));
Ln a=5.58502844; b=0.09286
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
1980 1988 1996 2004 2012 2020 2028 2036
Year
Billion Barrel
dQ/dt(30-bbbl)
dQ/dt(20 bbbl)
Q(cons.)-
DJLPE2001
Q(cons.5%
eff/cons)

Figure 1: Indonesian oil reserve and consumption trend.
The curve also shows the effect of 5% improvement in efficiency, conservation and diversification program on oil
reserve.

3
Table 1: RE Potential and installed capacity in Indonesia.


Source: RIPEBAT, DGEEU 1997.ACE,2002.
Note:
1. Operating time is 24 hrs/d for biomass, biogas, geothermal and micro-hydro, 8 hrs/d for solar PV &wind
2.Total land area for wind power generation per unit is 250 x 250 m2.
3.Total potential area for solar power generation = total area of Indonesia : 2 million km2.
4.Total geothermal potentials was based on the sum of proven reserves, expected and speculative possible and
hypothetical reserves
5.The Wind energy potential as well as installed capacity was based of generation capacity > 20 kVA (15 kW)


3. BIOMASS ENERGY POTENTIAL IN INDONESIA

It is estimated that Indonesia produces 146.7 million tons of biomass per year, equivalent to about 470
GJ/y. As shown in Table 2, the main source of biomass energy in Indonesia can be obtained from rice
residues which give the largest technical energy potential of 150 GJ/year, rubber wood with 120 GJ/year,
sugar residues with 78 GJ/year, palm oil residues, 67 GJ/year, and the rest with smaller than 20 GJ/year
are from plywood and veneer residues, logging residues, sawn timber residues, coconut residues, and
agricultural wastes (ZREU,2000). These sources of biomass can help in supplying both heat and
electricity for rural house hold and industries.

4. BIOMASS ENERGY CONVERSION AND UTILIZATION

Fire wood, for example, is still the main source of energy for cooking in most of the developing countries.
Table 2 gives example on the demand of fuel wood in some developing countries as compared to the use
of fossil fuel in some developed countries. In Indonesia, for example, beside kerosene and gas most rural
household and to some extend some of the urban households are still using fire wood or agricultural
wastes for cooking. In Indonesia the energy consumption for cooking in the rural household is estimated
at 0.88 m
3
of fuel wood /head/year or equivalent to about 17.7 MJ/person/day. (Kamaruddin, 1988). Stove
efficiency used for cooking is still low from the traditional three stone with 5% efficiency to a refined
wood stove such as the two pot un-insulated metal wood stove with efficiency of 27.9% (Baldwin, 1987).



RE Source
Installed
Potential (MWe)
%
Capacity*) MWe
Utilization
Geothermal
589
19650
3.00
Micro-hydro
21
458.75
4.58
Solar/PV
5
156487
3.20E-03
Wind
0.5
9286
5.38E-03
Biomass
178
49807
0.36
Biogas
10
684.83
1.46
Total
803.5
236373.58
0.34
4
Table 2: Major Biomass Residues Potential as Energy Sources.

Source: ZREU, CGI 2000.

A simple stoves can be made using used oil barrel with saw dust as fuel. Such stove has about 16%
thermal efficiency, can be as cooking stove as main or auxiliary heating component for process heat in
small processing unit (Kamaruddin, 2000) and in various agro-based industries. Such technology is also
being used to dry sawn coconut wood in wooden house industry in Manado, North Sulawesi












Biomass
Main region
Production

[million t/year]
Technical energy
potential
[million GJ/year]
Remarks
Rubber wood
Sumatera,
Kalimantan, Java

41
(replanting)
120
small logs
<10 cm
big and medium logs are used
as fire wood in brick and roof
tile industry: price 20,000
30,000 IDR/m³
Loggin