The collaboration was sealed in a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) signing, witnessed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Thursday (October 23).
"This collaboration, among other things, encourages the development of new and renewable energy, particularly in the gasoline sector," Lahadalia informed on Friday.
He explained that Brazil has implemented an ethanol blend in gasoline of up to E30 nationally. Several Brazilian states have even reached E100, or pure ethanol without any gasoline blend.
The minister stated that Indonesia is committed to pursuing this path, by targeting the implementation of an E10 ethanol blend by 2027–2028, before moving to the E20 phase in the future.
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According to Bahlil, this initiative not only aims to produce cleaner energy but also to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Indonesia's success in the palm oil-based biodiesel program, from B10 to B40, has inspired the implementation of a similar program in the gasoline sector through ethanol, he continued.
"If biodiesel uses CPO (crude palm oil), then gasoline uses ethanol, where ethanol is sourced from corn, cassava, and then sugar cane," he explained.
Lahadalia said that ethanol development will also be a strategy to increase farmers' incomes while encouraging downstreaming in the plantation sector.
This program is expected to create new economic growth areas in various raw material-producing regions, he added.
"This will inevitably take place in the regions, not only in Jakarta. That way, we can cut imports and raise people’s incomes. In addition, we can reduce pollution by using higher-quality fuel,” he noted.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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