Acting Regent: Garbage In Banyumas Will Be Processed For Co-firing Biomass

JAKARTA - Acting (Pj) Banyumas Regent Hanung Cahyo Saputro said that one of the results of waste processing in Banyumas Regency, Central Java, will be used as raw material for co-firing biomass to meet the needs of steam power plants (PLTU).

"This is stated in a joint agreement between the Banyumas Regency Government, PT PLN Energi Primary Indonesia (EPI), and PT Sinar Energi Utama which was signed in Jakarta last week," said Acting Regent in Purwokerto, Banyumas Regency, quoted from Antara, Tuesday 9 July.

In this case, the joint agreement to integrate the management of potential waste processing products into existing biomass effectively and efficiently in supporting regional development to improve community welfare and environmental sustainability was signed by the Acting Regent of Banyumas Hanung Cahyo Saputro, Director of Biomass of PT PLN EPI Aris Sudjatmiko, and President Director of PT Sinar Energi Utama Taufiqqullah Ande.

Furthermore, Hanung said the cooperation was related to the development of waste processing results in Banyumas Regency to support the energy transition and achieve the Net Zero Emission (NZE) target.

He admitted that the Banyumas Regency Government has its own way of managing waste, namely completing integrated waste management sites (TPST) with organic and inorganic waste sorting machines.

According to him, the final results of the TPST managed by the non-governmental organization (KSM) are in the form of compost, paving, bricks, plastic seeds, and organic waste porridge as raw materials for biomass.

"These various final results of waste really help the operational costs of KSM and contribute PAD (Regional Original Income) in the form of levies," he said.

In this regard, the Acting Regent said that the Banyumas Regency Government welcomed the cooperation because PLN EPI would take advantage of waste porridge which is one of the waste processing products in Banyumas to be used as a biomass to meet the co-firing needs at the PLTU.

In his statement, the President Director of PT Sinar Energi Utama, Taufiqqullah Ande, said that his party as the offtaker of waste in Banyumas is ready to carry out further processing, so that the waste porridge produced by TPST meets the biomass requirements for co-firing at the PLTU.

"This will both benefit all parties, namely reduced Banyumas waste, reducing emissions from piles of garbage, improving the local economy, and increasing the provision of biomass by PLN EPI," he said.

Meanwhile, the President Director of PLN EPI Iwan Agung Firstantara said that his party is fully committed to achieving the energy transition through increasing the utilization of new and renewable energy (EBT) based on local resources, one of which is by processing waste which so far continues to be a problem in districts/cities.

In this case, he said, the waste will be processed into biomass co-firing to meet the needs of the PLTU.

"We really appreciate this synergy step, the continued process of one of the processed waste products into biomass will certainly have a double role that not only deals with waste problems but is also able to reduce emissions on both sides, namely from piles of garbage and from reducing the portion of coal in PLTU," he said.

According to him, the need for biomass for the purpose of emission reduction is increasing along with Indonesia's commitment to achieving NZE in 2060 or sooner.

Furthermore, he said the joint agreement between PLN EPI, Banyumas Regency Government, and PT Sinar Energi Utama was aimed at integrating the management of potential waste processing products into existing biomass effectively and efficiently, so that parties could focus on supporting regional development to improve community welfare and environmental sustainability.

"In this agreement, PLN EPI as an integrator and an environmentally friendly primary energy aggregator, is ready to absorb waste processing into biomass run by the Banyumas Regency Government and PT Sinergi Energi Utama," he said.

Iwan hopes that the success of the agreement can be a model that will be replicated in various other locations, thereby increasing the contribution to NZE's achievement.