Budi Acid to build 7 biogas power plants next year

Publicly-listed tapioca starch producer PT Budi Acid Jaya plans to build seven more biogas-fired power plants next year to meet its energy need and bring additional income, Bisnis Indonesia reported Saturday.

The Lampung=based firm completed the construction of its first biogas power plant with the capacity of 5.7 Megawatt (MW) in Way Abung, Lampung. The power plant using the firm's waste as feedstock started operation earlier this year.

Company Corporate Secretary Mawarti Wongso said the firm had planned to build a total of eight biogas power plants. The remaning seven power plants will be built next year.

Mawarti said the development of the biogas power project need a total investment of US$31.25 million. Sumitomo Corporation contributed $10 million, Cargill Incorporated $10.5 million, Nedo Fund $3.5 million. The remainder will be covered by the firm using internal resources.

Aside from meeting the firm's need for cheaper energy, the company has a chance to get additional revenue from the operation of the power plants under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program of the Kyoto Protocol. The power plant project will generate Certified Emission Reduction (CER) which is sellable to developed countries.

Mawarti also said the firm plans to invest $43 million to build an ethanol production plant with the capacity of 75 million kiloliters per year. (*)