Potential of Biomass as RE Source for Sustainable Electricity Supply in Eastern Indonesia

Indonesia is working hard to fulfil the quantity, quality, and reliability of the electricity supply in eastern Indonesia. The geographical condition of eastern Indonesia, which consists of thousands of islands with a scattered population and relatively low density, makes it challenging to electrify this region economically. This region still relies on fossil fuels to produce electricity. This dependency becomes a primary problem due to cost production, security of fossil supply and not being environmentally friendly. An option to reduce fossil fuels dependency and ensure the sustainability of electricity supply and reach the economic production cost is to replace fossil energy with renewable energy (RE) sources. However, no research in this area focuses on finding the most economical and sustainable RE sources. Therefore, this research focuses on finding RE sources based on local energy resources, guaranteeing sustainability, supporting local economic growth, and operating at a reasonable cost. The research's results show that the biomass sources potential in eastern Indonesia is immense, distributed over a vast area. The projected electricity demand in Eastern Indonesia towards 2050 will reach 15.9 TWh, and it needs to be supported by more than 4,200 MW of generating capacity. Suppose it is targeted that by 2050 electrical energy from RE will reach 31%. In that case, it is projected that the aggregate biomass required will reach 5.86 million tons, with the average conversion of wood biomass to produce calories ranging from 4,200 to 4,600 kcal/kg. The volume of forest products will supply the Biomass power plant to reach 1.28 GW. These potential needs can be met by energy plantations covering 1,130,738 ha spread across various islands in Eastern Indonesia. In addition, the sustainable preparation of biomass forests will also drive people's economy in this region.