206 Mariana Silaen et al.
benefit of waste management, reduce the indoor pollution risk, produce biogas
slurry for organic fertiliser, and even provide lighting where possible.
With low population density in Indonesian rural areas, a household- level or
individual system to provide fuel for cooking and lighting could potentially be a
better option than a centralised or communal system that requires greater
material input as well as management co- ordination. Moreover, an individual
system could be deployed without having to formulate a gas (or electricity) distribution system plan within the community, thus potentially reducing the
amount of investment.
In addition, biogas offers a potential means to increase farmers’ resilience by,
for instance, the use of biogas slurry as organic fertiliser. These could generate
new sources of supplementary or additional income for the smallholder, who
may trade organic coffee beans with organic fertiliser made on the premises.
These benefits to the smallholder farmers should be added to the savings made
from reducing the reliance on fossil- fuel-based energy. Additionally, if the government decided to suppress the liquid petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy, those
savings will be further increased. These potential benefits add value to the
pathway, not only to help the country achieve its NDC target by reducing rural
households’ fossil- fuel consumption but also to increase people’s resilience.
Large- scale biogas- for-electricity transition pathway
The large- scale biogas transition pathway is mainly concerned with meeting
renewable energy and carbon emission targets, as well as a means of addressing
the development goal of providing electricity access in remote areas. It has economic potential for the creation of small energy- generating enterprises.
Since 2014, the government of Indonesia has focused on increasing electricity access to rural areas, including remote islands. As it stands, Indonesia has
achieved above 94% of its electrification ratio target of 92.75% in 2017 through
the Energy- saving Solar- powered Lighting Supply (LTSHE) programme in rural
areas (Kementerian ESDM, 2017), although doubts remain over the sustainability of the programme. However, and in contrast, the majority of Indonesia’s
current and planned power plants are coal- powered generators. A new approach
to investment in electricity generation that has longer- term objectives of supporting low- carbon development may be needed. Currently, one of the most
notable initiatives comes from PLN which, under ESDM policy, is opening its
doors to private companies by purchasing their services to operate in different
areas to generate and sell electricity.
Responding to this policy, many private sector actors are working on renewable energy initiatives but they are less active in biogas- to-electricity enterprises.
Stakeholder dialogues elaborated that the current policy is not totally supportive of electricity generation from the RES due to their higher initial and operating costs, especially from biomass. Thus, companies selling electricity generated
by biogas will face challenges when competing with the existing electricity price
set by the government. There was, however, growing political support to
benefit of waste management, reduce the indoor pollution risk, produce biogas
slurry for organic fertiliser, and even provide lighting where possible.
With low population density in Indonesian rural areas, a household- level or
individual system to provide fuel for cooking and lighting could potentially be a
better option than a centralised or communal system that requires greater
material input as well as management co- ordination. Moreover, an individual
system could be deployed without having to formulate a gas (or electricity) distribution system plan within the community, thus potentially reducing the
amount of investment.
In addition, biogas offers a potential means to increase farmers’ resilience by,
for instance, the use of biogas slurry as organic fertiliser. These could generate
new sources of supplementary or additional income for the smallholder, who
may trade organic coffee beans with organic fertiliser made on the premises.
These benefits to the smallholder farmers should be added to the savings made
from reducing the reliance on fossil- fuel-based energy. Additionally, if the government decided to suppress the liquid petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy, those
savings will be further increased. These potential benefits add value to the
pathway, not only to help the country achieve its NDC target by reducing rural
households’ fossil- fuel consumption but also to increase people’s resilience.
Large- scale biogas- for-electricity transition pathway
The large- scale biogas transition pathway is mainly concerned with meeting
renewable energy and carbon emission targets, as well as a means of addressing
the development goal of providing electricity access in remote areas. It has economic potential for the creation of small energy- generating enterprises.
Since 2014, the government of Indonesia has focused on increasing electricity access to rural areas, including remote islands. As it stands, Indonesia has
achieved above 94% of its electrification ratio target of 92.75% in 2017 through
the Energy- saving Solar- powered Lighting Supply (LTSHE) programme in rural
areas (Kementerian ESDM, 2017), although doubts remain over the sustainability of the programme. However, and in contrast, the majority of Indonesia’s
current and planned power plants are coal- powered generators. A new approach
to investment in electricity generation that has longer- term objectives of supporting low- carbon development may be needed. Currently, one of the most
notable initiatives comes from PLN which, under ESDM policy, is opening its
doors to private companies by purchasing their services to operate in different
areas to generate and sell electricity.
Responding to this policy, many private sector actors are working on renewable energy initiatives but they are less active in biogas- to-electricity enterprises.
Stakeholder dialogues elaborated that the current policy is not totally supportive of electricity generation from the RES due to their higher initial and operating costs, especially from biomass. Thus, companies selling electricity generated
by biogas will face challenges when competing with the existing electricity price
set by the government. There was, however, growing political support to