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Prabowo's biofuel plans face major challenges
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An attendant walks across a gas station of state-owned energy holding company Pertamina in Kuningan, South Jakarta, in this undated photograph. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
P
rabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka's plan to make Indonesia a world leader in green energy through the development of biodiesel, bioavtur and bioethanol will run up against numerous challenges.
In the mission statement published for their election campaign, the presumptive winners of last week’s presidential polls state their intention to push for higher mandatory biofuel content in diesel and gasoline blends. They aim to roll out the use of a 50-percent biodiesel fuel (B50) and a 10-percent bioethanol fuel (E10) by 2029.
Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, has been looking to domestic biomass as a way to reduce costly fuel imports. Prabowo has suggested making greater use of palm oil, corn and sugarcane as energy sources.
However, energy expert Iwa Garniwa said that even though Indonesia had begun to use biodiesel, bioavtur and bioethanol, the deployment of such fuels was still at an early stage.
In the long run, Indonesia would need substantial investment into the required infrastructure to meet the large demand for fuel oil, he added, stressing that biofuels were not currently price competitive with fossil fuels.
“As a result [of more biofuel use], energy would become more expensive […], which could lead to declining productivity,” Iwa, who is also the rector of the PLN Institute of Technology, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
“Indonesia will need until 2060 to reach its net-zero emissions target, so it seems impossible to implement these green energy fuel targets in the short term.”
