KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. PT PLN, the state-owned electricity company in Indonesia, continues to support the presence of renewable energy through the application of co-firing in Steam Power Plants (PLTU) scattered throughout the country.

The CEO of PT PLN Energi Primer Indonesia (EPI), Iwan Agung Firstantara, explained that co-firing is a combustion process in PLTU, which typically uses coal, substituted with one or more biomass types at a certain ratio.

“We have 52 PLTUs across Indonesia, and we have tested co-firing in 46 of them, technically there are no issues. Coal is partially replaced with rice husks, sawdust, cassava stems,” he said at the Lestari Summit 2024 in Jakarta, on Wednesday (21/8).

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Iwan mentioned that the application of co-firing in these 46 PLTUs is now commercially oriented. According to him, with this technology, Indonesia will be able to generate green electricity without incurring significant costs.

“We are developing this according to our roadmap, eventually reaching a sustainability of 10.2 million tons of biomass per year,” he revealed.

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Iwan stated that the co-firing activity is continuously being improved every year. By 2023, PLN will be able to substitute coal with renewable energy as much as 1 million tons per year.

“This has gradually increased twofold this year, we have a target of more than 2 million tons for biomass combustion,” he said.

Furthermore, Iwan assumes that substituting coal with biomass will create a significant amount of green energy. This means it is very beneficial to support the sustainability of energy in Indonesia.

“The potential to replace coal with renewable energy is wide open, if 10% of 18,800 means 1,800 megawatts, it's a significant amount for creating a renewable energy power plan,” he added.

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Editor: Syamsul Azhar