Energy Plantation for Coal Mine Reclamation

Indonesia as one of the largest coal producers in the world, turns out to leave environmental problems in its mining activities. It is estimated that around 8 million hectares or around 3/4 of Indonesia's palm oil plantation are former coal mine holes. The holes become a kind of lake that also often takes casualties. The regulations that apply are reclaiming the hole by returning the soil excavated after the coal deposit being extracted. In practice there are still very few who do this so that holes like lakes are still scattered everywhere. Of the very few, most of them only do it symbolically, meaning that reforestation of reclaimed land is only done in certain areas.

Energy plantations with fast rotation plants and leguminoceae groups such as calliandra and gliricidae are the right solutions to reduce these environmental impacts. After the reclaimed energy plantation can be made in the area of ​​the former coal pit. With an area of ​​thousands to millions of hectares, the woody biomass production from the energy plantation will also be large. The wood is then used as an energy source too. Coal companies are basically energy companies, so it will be in line if it also produces wood as an energy source as well. The difference is that wood from the energy plantation is renewable energy, is a carbon neutral fuel and sustainable. Reclamation with energy plantation also provides a positive image for the company. In order to provide high added value, the wood can be processed into wood chips or wood pellets.

Why are fast-rotating plants from the leguminoceae group such as calliandra or gliricidae chosen as energy plantation tree species? This is because a number of advantages of these plants include pioneer plants and are very easy to grow, easy to care for, can be harvested quickly and with roots that are symbiotic with azetobacter so that they can bind nitrogen from the atmosphere to increase soil fertility. The condition of infertile reclamation land can also be repaired with the energy plantation. Indonesia's position on the equator is also very supportive for the production and use of energy from biomass, especially energy plantations. There is a lot of cloudiness because the island nation makes solar energy use of solar panels less suitable to be applied in Indonesia, for more details can be read here.

The use of renewable energy is gradually starting to replace fossil energy. Renewable energy, especially biomass, is environmentally friendly and sustainable. The coal power plant can also gradually use biomass as its fuel by means of cofiring. Cofiring is the easiest and cheapest way for coal power plants to go to biomass power plants. In this way automatic waste of fly ash will also be reduced. Conversion of up to 100% biomass or full firing is the target for the coal power plant. In addition, power plants also do not have to be centralized with large capacity, for example, hundreds of MW or thousands of MW, but more scattered with small to medium capacity with biomass fuels, especially those that are intensively cultivated with energy plantations that can be made in various corners of the archipelago. Gasification and fluidized bed technology are a number of technologies that can be used for small and medium scale power plants and use wood biomass as fuel. It is not even impossible that the power plant is only the size of a refrigerator.