Cooperating With The Singkawang City Government, PLN Processes Household Waste For PLTU Fuel

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara/PLN)

JAKARTA - PT PLN (Persero) in collaboration with the Government of Singkawang City, West Kalimantan processes household waste into electricity. The household waste is processed into solid jumputan raw material (BBJP) for co-firing at the Bengkayang Steam Power Plant (PLTU), West Kalimantan.

PLN Manager of the Singkawang Generation Implementation Unit (UPK), Erfan Julianto, revealed that the trial of using BBJP as a coal mixture will begin in August 2022 through a co-firing program.

"The co-firing program is an effort to accelerate the target for the new renewable energy mix (EBT) and commitment to carbon neutrality by substituting some coal with alternative energy sources such as waste," said Erfan in a press release, Thursday, April 14.

PLN and the Singkawang City Government have signed a cooperation agreement to provide training and assistance for the construction of waste processing infrastructure into BBJP at the Wonosari TPA on March 24, 2022.

"In this trial phase, we will provide chopping machines, conveyors and other supporting equipment for processing waste. Furthermore, the resulting BBJP products will be tested to obtain the most appropriate variation in the composition of the raw materials," added Erfan.

He explained, after finding the composition of raw materials with the right calorific value, the processing of waste into BBJP will proceed to the commercial stage.

“The need for fuel for the Bengkayang PLTU with a capacity of 2x50 megawatts (MW) is 2,400 tons per day. The commercial implementation of the coal and BBJP co-firing program will absorb around 300 tons of waste per day," explained Erfan.

In addition to being a solution to reduce landfill waste, the PLTU co-firing program using BBJP also provides opportunities to increase regional income and create new jobs for local communities.