Tangerang City to Process Waste into Power Plant Fuel
MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES
REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
PRESS RELEASE
NUMBER: 142.Pers/04/SJI/2021
Date: 24 April 2021
Tangerang City to Process Waste into Power Plant Fuel
Tangerang City administration and a subsidiary of state electricity utility PLN, PT Indonesia Power (IP), signed an agreement to provide cofiring fuel for the latter's coal-fired power plants in order to raise the use of renewable energy in electricity generation.
The signing ceremony was held online by President Director of IP, M. Ahsin Sidqi, and Mayor of Tangerang, Arief R. Wismansyah, and witnessed by PLN's Director of Mega Projects and Renewable Energy, M. Ikhsan Asaad, on Friday (23/4).
"We need to appreciate this effort because by using waste as cofiring fuel, the City of Tangerang not only meets its need of electricity supply with renewable energy sources but also resolves environmental problems," said Head of Bureau of Communication, Public Information Services, and Cooperation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Agung Pribadi, on a separate occasion in Jakarta on Saturday (24/4).
At the signing ceremony, Tangerang Mayor Arief R. Wilmansyah said that he hoped the collaboration could offer a solution to municipal waste handling in Tangerang City. With a population of nearly 2 million, Tangerang City produces 1,500 metric tons of waste.
"We fully appreciate the plan and breakthrough offered by PLN and IP in providing a solution to the waste issue in regions. Every region considers waste as a problem, although with current technology, waste can actually be used as a renewable source that supports coal," said Arief.
Through the collaboration, the Tangerang City administration will carry out community development and facilitate the commercialization of solid recovered fuel supplies.
Solid recovered fuel comes from waste that has been sorted and homogenized into small-sized pieces, or pellets. Solid recovered fuel can replace fossil fuels.
This fuel has been processed by either biodrying or maggot technologies. The biodrying technology is one where organic substances are partially decomposed by utilizing heat generated by microorganisms, then aerated to remove moisture. Meanwhile, maggot technology decomposes organic substances by using the maggots of Black Soldier Fly (BSF).
Currently, cofiring trials only use 5 tons of of solid recovered fuel per day. The amount is expected to grow as trials are advancing.
President Director of IP, M. Ahsin Sidqi, said his company would continue to employ the cofiring technology at various power plants.
"Starting from Bali, Jeranjang (West Nusa Tenggara), and Suralaya (Banten), the cofiring will continue to be employed at other power plants. The synergy between the Tangerang City administration and Indonesia Power in the cofiring is expected to bring prosperity and mutual success. Good work must be realized immediately. Although the current processing capacity is only 5 tons of waste per day, I hope the capacity will grow and eventually reach 100 tons per day," said Ahsin.
For the record, cofiring is the process of adding biomass as a partial replacement for fuel or coal mix at coal-fired power plants. PLN plans to carry out cofiring at the 52 existing coal power plants until 2024. (IY)
Head of Bureau of Communication, Public Information Services, and Cooperation
Agung Pribadi (08112213555)