Vice minister inaugurates POME-fuelled power plant

Vice Minsiter of Energy and Mineral Resources Susilo Siswoutomo on Tuesday inaugurated a 1-MW power plant using palm oil mill effluent (POME) in Rantau Sakti village, Tambusai Utara district, Rokan Hulu regency, Riau.

POME is a wastewater generated from palm oil milling activities.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by among others the governor, regent and local community leaders, the ministry said in a statement

Director General of New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Rida Mulyana said the development of the project started in 2013 using the ministry?s budget. The Rp 28 billion project was developed by the Directorate General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation in collaboration with the Rokan Hulu regency administration and palm oil mill owner PT Arya Rama Prakarsa. The directorate general provided the funds, the regency build electrity lines from the power plant to houses, and Arya Rama supplied the POME.

The pwoer plant is able to supply power to 1,050 households around the clock. Since it use POME as fuel, the power plant is environmentally friendly and the price of its power is cheaper compared to the power generated by diesel power plant, the ministry said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon