Leading University (from UK) : Birmingham City University
Participating Universities: Tokyo University (Japan) Gorontalo State University (Indonesia)
Project Summary:
As a developing economy, Indonesia has been impacted by the competing interests between energy security and climate change over the past decades. As a signatory of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, the country has a mandated bioenergy target of up to 40% of the national energy consumption by 2030. This target comes with a multitude of challenges, including high reliance on controversial oil palm, currently limited alternative supply, high cost and public acceptance. It is imperative to investigate other bioenergy sources and the forest bioenergy sector could be seen as a potential way forward for energy security and sustainable development. This work proposes to investigate hidden forest bioenergy potential embedded within non-protected wild plant species in Indonesia. By focusing on the Wallacea region, known for its unique unexplored flora, it includes accurate mapping of the forest energy sources and appropriate utilisation scenarios (technologies and their economic impacts). The research will utilise a newly formed international collaboration, leveraging expertise in smart environmental monitoring by Birmingham City University (BCU)-UK, energy and process integration by The University of Tokyo (UT)-Japan, and forestry plant sciences by Gorontalo State University (GSU)-Indonesia. The activities will be divided into: 1) forest bioenergy assessment (forest plot and data collection), and 2) academic research works (characterisation, scenario building, technological assessment, and energy analysis). The outcomes will impact the development of rural forest bioeconomy, expanding economic participation and revenue generation of forest farmers. It will also inform strategic policies and actions by the government and energy business to scale up the infrastructure for forest bioenergy, assisting the country in meeting the bioenergy target in 2030. Engagement with these stakeholders will be implemented during and beyond the project duration.
Objective of the Research :
- To investigate the forest bioenergy potential with a case study in the Wallacea region, which will play an important role in the Indonesia bioenergy development as an alternative to fossil-based biofuel in the next ten years
- To gather data from dendrometry and plant variables that characterise the bioenergy potential in the Wallacea region, focusing on Sulawesi Island, which in turn facilitate benchmark energy mapping to help reduce forest degradation for the next twenty years.
- To establish sound natural resources, technological and economic projections in Sulawesi Island as a baseline for promoting improved forest bioenergy impacts for the next five years.
- To construct feasible technological scenarios and end products toward an economical and sustainable bioenergy-based energy system.
- To inform and recommend integrated forest bioenergy policies and incentive recommendations to government and business representatives as key bioenergy stakeholders.