A significant amount of electrical energy could be generated from municipal solid waste in the Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi metropolitan areas of Indonesia, collectively known as Jabodetabek.
Research published in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management used historical data on municipal waste available from the Regional Environmental Agency and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, to build a model of the electrical potential for the period 2020-2030 based on energy generation estimates from an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) model.
Moh. Hadianto Ismangoen, Leopold Oscar Nelwan, I. Wayan Budiastra, and Kudang Boro Seminar of the IPB University in Bogor, and Muhammad Achirul Nanda of the Universitas Padjadjaran in Jatinangor estimate that during 2020 more than 800 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity might have been generated from waste and that by 2030, the figure could be well over 1000 GWh given appropriate infrastructure development. The team says such figures should be sufficient incentive for policymakers to develop an integrated waste management system in the Jabodetabek metropolitan area to utilise the vast quantities of solid waste – more than 8 million tonnes annually – and to produce biogas from the “organic” part for electricity generation.
Such a solution will help a developing region cope with its solid waste but does raise the issue of pollution and carbon emissions, which are inescapable as the biogas must be burned to heat water to generate steam to turn the turbines. Of course, there can be enormous net benefits when compared to burning fossil fuels in the absence of solar, wind, tidal, hydroelectric, or other alternatives.
Ismangoen, M.H., Nanda, M.A., Nelwan, L.O., Budiastra, I.W. and Seminar, K.B. (2022) ‘Estimation of energy generation from municipal solid waste in the Jabodetabek Metropolitan Area, Indonesia’, Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp.453–471.