VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo launched the implementation of B30 program in Jakarta on Monday. (Dec 23, 2019).

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) brought to the fore the basis for expediting the implementation of the biodiesel program until the country could avail the benefits of using B100, or 100 percent biodiesel.

"For me, it is not sufficient only to have B30 biodiesel. I have ordered the ministers and Pertamina to produce B40 by next year and B50 in early 2021," Jokowi remarked at the launch of the B30 program here on Monday.

The head of state spoke of his plan to conduct daily monitoring on the development of the program.

The government has at least three reasons behind speeding up the implementation of its biodiesel program.

Jokowi explained that the first reason was Indonesia’s keenness to seek renewable energy sources and end its dependency on fossil fuel, which, in future, will become depleted.

The development of renewable energy has also demonstrated Indonesia's commitment to preserving planet earth, producing clean energy by reducing carbon emissions, and improving the quality of the environment.

The second motive was the country's continued high dependence on imported fuel oil despite being the world's largest producer of palm oil.

"With such palm oil production potential, we have plenty of sources for biofuel to replace diesel oil," he explained, adding that the potential should be explored further to support national energy resilience and self-sufficiency.

"If we can consistently apply B30 biodiesel, we can save more than Rp63 trillion in foreign exchange," he pointed out.

Thirdly, the president pointed out that the implementation of B30 biodiesel will also step up the demand for domestic crude palm oil and furthermore have a multiplier effect on 16.5 million palm oil farmers in Indonesia.

It means that the B30 biodiesel program will impact small- and medium-scale farmers.


"I remind you here that the key to the success of the B30 biodiesel program or also B100 is whether we can put an end to imports," he stated.

B15 -- a fuel blend of 15 percent palm fatty acid methyl ester and 85 percent of conventional diesel fuel -- was made mandatory in 2015 for diesel-reliant industries.

A year later, B20, which has a bio-content of 20 percent, was produced to replace B15, and the government made it mandatory for the respective industries.

Furthermore, the government has decided that B30 will be made mandatory from January next year.

A decision was taken in August on the policy to make B30 mandatory in 2020 after the European parliament issued a resolution in 2017 to phase out palm oil in biofuel on grounds that it has caused deforestation.

With B30, the government is estimated to save Rp60 trillion from fuel imports in 2020.

If the migration to B30 is successful, President Jokowi is keen that the country begin planning for B50. (ANTARA)