Energy Plantation in Coal Mine Reclamation, Wood Pellet Factory and Coal Powerplant Cofiring in Indonesia

The extent of ex-coal mining area which reaches around 8 million hectares is an environmental problem itself that needs to be addressed. Energy plantations are an effective solution for the reclamation of the former coal mine land for more details, you can read here. Reclamation of ex-coal mining land is a form of responsibility of the coal mining company. Reclamation should be carried out as well as possible, not only symbolic and ceremonial, so that the effects of environmental damage can be minimized. Efforts to reclaim ex-coal mining land is not an easy thing and requires a lot of time and money, so it is not surprising that many avoid this responsibility. The best solution is to tackle the problem while generating both economic and environmental benefits. The production of wood pellets with wood raw materials from the energy plantation is a surefire solution to overcome this environmental damage as well as economic benefits.

Recently, the government launched a cofiring program for a number of coal powerplants in Indonesia. In 2020 the cofiring program has been initiated with a target of 37 coal powerplants and by the end of 2020 it has been reported that 20 coal powerplants have been implemented. While in total there are 114 units of coal powerplans owned by PLN (Indonesia state owned electricity company) that have the potential for cofiring spread over 52 locations with a total capacity of 18,154 megawatts (MW) with a target completion of 2024. Consisting of 13 coal powerplant locations in Sumatra, 16 coal powerplants locations in Java, Kalimantan (10 locations), Bali and Nusa Tenggara (4 coal powerplants unit), Sulawesi (6 locations) and Maluku and Papua (3 coal powerplant locations). Meanwhile, the cofiring ratio ranges from 1-5% of biomass with an estimated biomass requirement of 9-12 million tons per year. Cofiring is the easiest and cheapest effort for coal powerplant to gradually use renewable energy, especially biomass with main purpose of CO2 reduction. Currently, there is also a national standard for wood pellets (SNI wood pellets) for the purposes of cofiring and for more details, please read here. The use of biomass fuels, especially wood pellets, is a carbon neutral scenario that needs to be continuously improved. The biomass fuel will save the environment and not increase the earth's temperature, for more details read here.

Policies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, especially coal, also continue to be carried out globally. For Asia, for example, Japan and Korea with their leading Feed in Tariff and Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in the use of renewable energy, especially wood pellets. While in Europe with the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) renewable energy is targeted to reach 32% by 2030, biomass fuel is predicted to account for around 75% of the portion of renewable energy and the target is that coal is not used in total by 2050. Germany announced not to use coal in 2038, the UK even targets to no longer use coal for electricity production starting in October 2024. North America, namely the United States and Canada as members of the G7 are also committed to reducing coal consumption, even Canada in 2018 announced regulations to no longer use coal for electricity generation by 2030. On the other hand, the construction of coal power plants financed by China in various countries has failed. In addition, the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the United States) have been aggressively blocking the use of coal. Countries that still support coal use, such as China and Indonesia, are increasingly isolated and could face more pressure to stop the activity.

Leaves as a by-product of the energy plantations have the potential to be used as animal feed. The leaves of this type of legume have a fairly high protein content. The quantity of leaves produced is also large, proportional to the area of ​​the energy plantation. Ideally, the development of energy plantation will support the livestock industry, so that not only energy needs are met but also food needs. As a comparison, the European animal feed producer association, FEFAC, prioritizes protein sources for animal feed from rapeseed energy plantations from a number of efforts to obtain protein sources for animal feed, for more details please read here. The main products of rapeseed energy plantations are oil which is used for biodiesel production, and meal as a by-product of the oil production which is used as a source of animal feed protein. The need for protein sources for animal feed has an important role as nutrition for livestock, especially ruminants. Europe is still very shortage of these protein sources so that imports cannot be avoided. It is estimated that around 48 million tons of feed protein sources are needed by Europe, so there is a chance that leaves from energy plantations can be exported to Europe for this. When the domestic feed industry has not been able to absorb it, export is the best choice.

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.