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As the largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO) in the world, Indonesia has a major opportunity to utilize biogas technology for domestic and foreign demands. Tunas Sawa Erma (TSE) Group Director Luwy Leunufna said that biogas power plants have been established in palm oil producing areas such as Langkat and Belitung Island. One such power plant is also being built in Boven Digoel Regency, South Papua Province.
"We are building a biogas factory whose initial investment will certainly be large. But in the long term we will reduce the use of fuel in all plantation and factory activities. The development of a biogas power plant connected to bio-CNG (bio-compressed natural gas) in the long term will definitely be beneficial for the company and the environment," said Luwy in a statement received by the media from the TSE Group on Mar. 9, 2025.
He added that the TSE Group is a company engaged in the palm oil sector that is building the first biogas power plant in South Papua. With a total investment of US$3.6 million in biogas facilities, TSE Group converts palm oil mill effluent (POME) into renewable energy.
"Two biogas tanks with a capacity of 7,800 cubic meters (m3), it can produce 2 MW of electricity which is used for operational activities of the Palm Kernel Crushing Plant and so on," he said.
When the biogas power plant is running, said Luwy, the estimated emission reduction carried out by TSE Group reaches 60,708 tons of CO2 per year compared to without the facility. Luwy said that the construction of a biogas power plant is also a realization of the company's global effort to achieve net zero emissions (NZE) by 2050.
"This is carried out based on the awareness and belief of TSE Group that NZE can only be achieved through cooperation and innovation from all parties involved in the palm oil value chain," he said.
Luwy said that this effort is also to support Indonesia as one of the countries that ratified the Paris Agreement, which included requiring countries that sign the agreements to voluntarily reduce national carbon emissions through nationally determined contributions (NDC) with the aim of keeping global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius.
"We want to try to balance out emissions that have been released in Indonesia in line with the NZE commitment. Hence, we are carrying out activities such as the construction of a biogas power plant, replacing the use of oil-fueled heavy equipment with electric vehicles (EV), slowly shifting from B30 (30 percent fatty acid methyl ester or FAME biofuel), to B40 (40 percent FAME) and B50 (50 percent) in accordance with government regulations, building solar panels, and so on. The point is how we intervene effectively to make Indonesia emission neutral or NZE," explained Luwy.
He added that the TSE Group biogas power plant will be inaugurated in the near future. The holding company will also, as drawn up in build biogas power plants in multiple stages to five locations through The TSE Group Emission Reduction Roadmap which contains the company's targets to achieve NZE.
