The Finnish government through its Energy and Environment Partnership Program has awarded 180,000 Euros to an Indonesian consortium to develop a plan to create energy generation facilities that utilize waste products from small holder oil palm farmers in Riau, Indonesia. The goal of the project is to create viable energy solutions in the province and increase livelihoods for local small holder farmers.
Forest Carbon is joined in the consortium by Indonesian bioenergy company, STC Consulting; Dutch engineering firm, Maris BV; and Elang, a Riau based environmental NGO that works with farmer associations on rural development. The project will implement a comprehensive model to capture multiple waste streams from the palm oil sector and use them to generate electricity through an integrated power production facility.
Forest Carbon will focus on mapping the extensive palm oil supply chain that incorporates hundreds to thousands of small holder farmers in the districts of Rokan Hulu, Siak, and Indragiri Hilir. Forest Carbon will also conduct a district-wide land cover classification from satellite imagery which will identify degraded lands appropriate for agriculture.
Prasetya Mahardhitama, an analyst at Forest Carbon, sees the project as a great example of using spatial planning technology in order to drive low carbon development, “The project utilizes geographical data to map an extensive network of farmers in order to utilize an agricultural waste product by creating an efficient supply chain that will increase incomes for famers and electricity capacity for the province.”
In order to ensure the environmental sustainability of the project, the consortium will implement the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification scheme, a German Government initiative that has been recognized by the European Commission as the approved scheme for sustainable biomass energy certification under the EU’s renewable energy initiative.
