"As for the production of biodiesel, our capacity is sufficient. Indeed, yesterday, when we initially planned B40, it was not enough. Hence, the policy of B35 is indeed the most appropriate policy in terms of biodiesel supply," Director General of New, Renewable Energy, and Energy Conservation of the Ministry of ESDM Dadan Kusdiana stated.
He delivered the statement during a talk show on the Implementation of B35 for Energy Resilience and Independence Towards an Equitable Energy Transition in Jakarta, Tuesday.
The application of B35 is essentially a mixture of 35 percent palm oil-based biofuel blended with diesel fuel.
According to Kusdiana, implementation of the B35 program is expected to lower dependence on imported fuel.
"Our point of view from this data is to ensure there will be no imported diesel fuel later or almost no import later, and there will be no surplus of diesel from domestic production. Hence, this is break even from that side," Kusdiana said.
Furthermore, from the distribution side, he expressed optimism regarding no B0 occurring in the field. "Because this has been going on for quite a long time from the implementation side, so we have experience with this, but our target is to ensure that B0 does not occur," he explained.
"B0 means that the biodiesel is not mixed in the field because, for example, the biodiesel arrives late, we avoid this for that," he further explained.
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Kusdiana also mentioned several challenges in implementing B35, such as the unfinished mixing process in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
"There are challenges, such as until now, we have not yet finished mixing it in the Balikpapan area. Now, we are still mixing it from ship to ship, which is probably 'safe' environmentally. It is better if we do this on land, but we are not yet ready, we are still not ready for that," Kusdiana stated.
The next challenge is to encourage biodiesel producers in Papua.
"We want to continue to encourage biodiesel producers in Papua because there are palm oil plantations there. If there is a biodiesel factory there, from the logistic point of view, this will also help for more shipping to the eastern region," he explained.
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Translator: Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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