Indonesia pushes biogas for renewable energy

The Indonesian government has been urged to implement more incentives in a bid to encourage households and small businesses to use biogas as a source of renewable energy and reduce the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.

According to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and industry chairman Suryo Bambang Sulisto, the country's potential to develop biogas is great, however the cost of infrastructure has put this on hold.

'It costs around Rp10 million (€823.92) to build a biogas reactor with a total capacity of 10m3 for each household,' Sulisto says.

The government has launched its Biru programme, a scheme developed to increase the use of biogas for cooking and lighting in domestic applications.

Under the programme, each household wanting to erect a biogas reactor will receive Rp2 million from the government. The remaining construction costs can be covered with an interest-free loan from Rabobank.

By Q4 2012 the Indonesian government, with assistance from the Netherlands, aims to have constructed 8,000 biogas reactors across the nation. On 31 January 2011 1,686 reactors had been built.