KUCHING: Sarawak Oil Palm Planters Association (Soppoa) has urged the state and Federal governments to provide the necessary infrastructure to facilitate using palm oil waste to generate electricity.
It said the biogas produced from palm oil mill effluent and energy from the burning of empty fruit bunches could potentially be used to tap into the state’s power grid as well as for rural electricification schemes.
In Peninsular Malaysia, these empty fruit bunches — comprising the bulkiest component of biomass material — are being used to produce energy.
“Based on conservative estimates, it can be said that millions of ringgit are going down the drain due to the wastage of biomass and biogas potential resulting from palm oil mill effluent,” it said in a press statement.
According to Soppoa, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has mandated palm oil mills to fully utilise their effluent and empty fruit bunches by 2020.
“It is timely that Sarawak puts forward plans to utilise these wasted power resources as is being practised in Peninsular Malaysia, where power generated from mills is tapped into the main power grid as additional source of power supply,” Soppoa said
It said as it would cost between RM8mil and RM10mil to set up a biogas plant, total investment in Sarawak would amount to over RM600mil as there were now more than 60 mills statewide.
“Currently, Sarawak does not have the necessary infrastructure in place. The rural areas also lack proper infrastructure to enable the supply of power.
“Therefore, it is timely that the Government, both state and Federal, look into providing the necessary infrastructure for the utilisation of potential power supply from palm oil mills in the state,” it added.
The association also hoped that in the drawing up of the 11th Malaysia Plan, funds could be allocated for infrastructure projects to provide electricity by using the biogas resources and biomass generated by the palm oil industry.
Soppoa said under the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) for the palm oil industry, the feed-in tariff programme was introduced to provide attractive energy incentives for biogas producers to sell electricity to the main power grid.
This, therefore, was one area that Sarawak could tap into for funds, it said.
According to the statement, Soppoa council members had discussed the proposal of using biogas and biomass generated by palm oil mills to supply electricity to the state power grid and rural electrification schemes in meetings with various relevant ministries and agencies to synergise the palm oil industry’s potential with the state development plans.
Soppoa said the palm oil industry had remained a vital contributor to Sarawak’s economic growth, and that based on the government’s plan, the size of the oil palm plantations would be expanded to two million hectares by 2020, from around 1.2 million hectares at present.
Taken from The Star
