Government will build four biodiesel plants

The government plans to build four biodiesel plants in Kalimantan and Sumatra this year to promote the wider use of non-oil and gas alternative energy in the country, The Jakarta Post reported on Thursday.

The plants, to cost up to Rp 300 billion (US$33 million) to build, are expected to be completed by the end of 2006, and produce a total of 6,000 tons of biodiesel fuel each year. The raw materials will consist of crude palm oil (CPO) and castor oil from castor-oil plantations.

?The total production of the four plants will be small as they are just pilot projects, but we expect it to eventually expand, with private investors becoming involved as demand increases,? Industry Minister Fahmi Idris said Wednesday after a ministerial meeting to discuss the development of alternative energy.

Fahmi said the construction of the plants was a concrete manifestation of the government?s policy of introducing alternative energy into Indonesia.

He explained that alternative energy included biomass fuels like biodiesel and bioethanol, and that the Industry Ministry would work together with the Agricultural, Research and Technology, and Energy and Mineral Resources Ministries to provide the necessary technology. policies and promotion.

A presidential decree was issued earlier this year to give effect to the government?s long-term energy strategy of reducing the use of oil to 30 percent of the country?s total energy mix by 2025 from 60 percent at present.

The use of coal and natural gas, meanwhile, is expected to rise to 30 percent from 15 percent at present, with alternative energy resources such as biomass fuel, and hydro, geothermal, and solar energy accounting for the remaining ten percent.

Indonesia?s transportation sector currently consumes some 44 million kiloliters of diesel fuel per year, while industry uses another 6 million kiloliters.

Fahmi said that the biodiesel plants would be built in Kalimantan and Sumatra near existing oil palm plantations and planned castor-oil plantations.

The Agricultural Ministry is also in discussions with 14 other regions around the country with a view to establishing new plantations to provide raw materials for biodiesel plant. (*)