Biomass Prices Hamper Co-Firing Program

The Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry is finalizing the draft of the ESDM ministerial regulation on the biomass co-firing program at coal-fired power plants (PLTU). However, the Director-General of Renewables Dadan Kusdiana revealed that the biomass pricing had not been settled. "There's only one aspect remaining, the price. The sellers want it as high as possible, while the buyers want the price to be lower," Dadan explained on Friday.

Dadan hopes that the Indonesian Biomass Energy Society (MEBI) can provide a fixed price benchmark for biomass. The government can facilitate it through an Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial regulation to boost the development of EBT. In terms of complexity, the use of biomass for co-firing programs is much simpler. Therefore, the ministry expects support from MEBI to be able to coordinate with various parties regarding this price certainty.