Rice husk fueled Biomass Boiler Plant in Central Java

  • Danone Partners with Berkeley Energy Commercial Industrial Solutions (BECIS) in building and operating a Biomass Boiler fueled by rice husk to reduce carbon footprint by up to 32% from its production activities in Prambanan.
  • Part of Danone Indonesia’s commitment to mitigate climate change with the ambition to use 100% renewable electricity in 2030 and carbon neutral in 2050 and to support the government goal to increase the renewable energy mix up to 25% and carbon neutral in 2060.
  • Aside from its environmental impact, the facility is also creating both social and economical impact to the surrounding society by sourcing rice husks from rice millers and giving generated rice husk ash back to the farmers, to be used as a fertilizer.
Klaten, 15 June 2022 – Danone Specialized Nutrition (SN) Indonesia today inaugurates its rice husk fueled Biomass Boiler at PT Sarihusada Generasi Mahardika, Prambanan factory area, which is part of Danone SN Indonesia. This is done as the company’s commitment to mitigate climate change by reducing its carbon footprint through provision of nutrition products for mothers, children, and family that are produced with environmentally friendly technology. Danone SN Indonesia is cooperating with Berkeley Energy Commercial Industrial Solutions (BECIS) in building and operating this facility to reduce the carbon footprint from Prambanan factory production activities up to 32%.
Ganjar Pranowo, the Governor of Central Java appreciates the breakthrough taken by Danone SN Indonesia. “These kind of initiatives shows the company’s commitment as one of the stakeholders to care for the environment, as well as to innovate in leveraging on renewable energy to run its business operation sustainably. Central Java’s renewable energy mix has only reached 11.89% in 2020, from the roadmap target of 28.82% in 2050. This Boiler Biomass development has certainly given a positive contribution against the achievement of energy mix from renewable energy in the province. We also appreciate the Bioenergy activity in increasing agricultural productivity through rice husk ash created from the combustion process. A very good sustainability chain indeed.” Vice President General Secretary Danone Indonesia, Vera Galuh Sugijanto says, “Climate change has been an ever-growing challenge and we all has certainly have felt the effects. As a company built from a One Planet One Health vision, Danone believes that the health of the planet and human are interlinked. Overcoming the climate change effect is part of the company’s commitment to realize a healthier planet and society. Cooperating with BECIS, a renewable energy provider in Asia, Danone SN Indonesia builds this Bioenergy facility which will use 10,500 tons of rice husk annually, and can produce up to 6 tons of steam energy “Danone as the producer of nutritious products is committed to mitigate climate change with its ambition to use 100% renewable electricity energy in 2030 and reaches carbon neutral in 2050. We also ensure this Bioenergy facility is not just using environmental-friendly technology and raw materials from renewable energy, but to also contributes to agricultural products circularity to increase agricultural productivity”, she continues. Pertaining to its environmental-friendly technology, the Biomass Boiler is using rice husk as its raw material. Rice husk is an agriculture waste sourced from several area in Central Java, including the surrounding agricultural land within this Boiler Biomass facility. The province is one of the biggest rice producing contributors in the country. The Boiler Biomass can reduce carbon emission up to 8,300 tons of CO2 or equivalent to carbon emission absorbed through planting of 120,000 trees. Therefore, it can reduce its carbon footprint from the Prambanan factory production process up to 32%. During his remarks, Dadan Kusdiana, Director General of EBTKE from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said, “The Indonesian government continues to take part in increasing the use of renewable energy as the solution to environmental-friendly energy, and also continue to encourage all stakeholders to accelerate and transition to greener energy. We appreciate Danone SN Indonesia for the breakthrough by introducing the rice husk fuel Boiler Biomass, as it can increase the national renewable energy mix portion. This is in-line with the Indonesia government’s target to increase its renewable energy mix up to 23% in 2025, and reach carbon neutral in 2060.” Hj. Sri Mulyani, SM, Regent of Klaten explains “Klaten regency is an important region that supports two major cities, namely Yogyakarta and Surakarta. The development of this Klaten regent is quite rapid which resulted to higher carbon emission. Collective solution from all related stakeholders is needed to reduce this effect. We welcome and appreciate Danone SN Indonesia initiative to build this Boiler Biomass facility fueled by rice husk to reduce carbon footprint from its operational activities, as well as its impact towards both people’s lives and the environment.” Hannu Ikavalko, Chief Operating Officer for BECIS Bioenergy also explained, “As the provider of renewable energy solutions, BECIS strongly believes that decarbonization, decentralization, and digitalization of energy are the keys to the companies to build their sustainable operation activities. With this occasion, BECIS is very enthusiastic in supporting Danone in Indonesia in realizing its vision in renewable energy use through the development and operation of this Bioenergy plant. The facility also supported by rooftop solar panels, resulting in a very environmentally-friendly operations. Through this partnership, we are also able to create a positive social and economical impact to the surrounding society by sourcing the fuel locally and giving the generated rice husk ash back to the farmers, to be used as an organic fertilizer.” Rice husk ash generated by the plant has high silica content, which is very beneficial to increase agricultural productivity by up to 10 ton/Ha. Danone and BECIS has distributed the rice husk ash to groups of farmers and assisting its application together with fertilizer to 159 Ha of agricultural land. A discussion session during this Boiler Biomass inauguration also gives deeper insights on how Danone SN Indonesia implements practices to mitigate climate change and creates circular agricultural products. Marzuki Mohamad, Rapper and Agriculture Activist, or widely known as Kill the DJ has also expressed his opinion during this session. “I grew up as part of the agriculture society, and continuously willing to contribute to farmers’ welfare. A synergize efforts between industry and farmers need to be established to mitigate climate change. The Bioenergy facility which use rice husk as its fuel does not only reduce carbon emission, but from the combustion process, rice husk ash will also benefit farmers and can increase their agricultural activities and productivity.” Through this Bioenergy development, Danone SN Indonesia hopes that the objectives of being the company which provides nutritious products, and also participating to mitigate climate change by using 100% renewable electricity energy in 2030 and carbon neutral in 2050 can be achieved.