Bamboo to electricity

Abstract

Following the Paris Agreement of 2015, Indonesia aims to reduce emissions by 29% by 2030, compared to the business as usual scenario. In Indonesia it is expected that between 2015 and 2030 the electricity demand could triple and the total energy demand could increase by 80%. Bioenergy would account for more than half of all renewable energy in 2030 in Indonesia. However, the expansion of energy crops contributes to negative effects like deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and competition with food production. An other problem Indonesia currently deals with is the large amount of degraded land. A solution to these problems would be to cultivate biomass on degraded land. Bamboo can be used as a biomass feedstock, as it meets all selection requirements to be produced on degraded land. This thesis report quantifies the extent and finds the location of degraded land in Indonesia. Also, the technical and economic potential of bamboo cultivation on the degraded land locations is assessed. The research question that will be answered is: how much degraded land would be needed to cover Indonesia’s electricity demand by 2030, when using bamboo as a biomass feedstock, and how likely is this land available? This research question is answered by first doing a geographic information system (GIS) analysis. Through the QGIS software, the degraded land locations in Indonesia which are suitable for bamboo plantations can be found. This is done by layering multiple datasets on top of each other in four steps. Next, the technoeconomic potential analysis is done by calculating how much degraded land would be needed to cover a certain percentage of Indonesia’s electricity demand by 2030, and calculating the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of different biomass conversion technologies. The results show that between 0.21% and 49.9% of Indonesia’s total land area can be considered degraded according to different scenarios. The suitable area for bamboo plantations lays between the 0.01% and the 13% of Indonesia’s total land area. Using these areas the potential electricity that can be reached lays between the 0.4732 TWh for gasification, 0.3533 TWh for combustion, 0.3506 TWh for anaerobic digestion, and 0.1266 TWh for pyrolysis. The area needed to cover 25% of Indonesia’s electricity demand by 2030 ranges from 2.05.6% of Indonesia’s total land cover when using different conversion technologies. For 100% electricity demand this area increases to the range of 8.122.4% of Indonesia’s total land cover. The LCOE goes from 13 US$ct./kWh for gasification, to 16 US$ct./kWh for combustion, 22 US$ct./kWh for anaerobic digestion, and finally to 45 US$ct./kWh for pyrolysis. The result show that when using the least strict degraded land scenarios, it would be possible to cover a significant amount of Indonesia’s electricity demand. However, it is not likely that these scenarios will be applied. The definition of degraded land, still is not completely clear, and extensive field research needs to be done to validate the degraded land results. This research shows that bamboo cultivation on degraded land for electricity generation in Indonesia might not be applicable to generate large amounts of electricity. Nevertheless, it can be applied on smaller scales and it is a step in the right direction of Indonesia’s energy transition. Finally, some recommendations for future research can be made. First of all, uncertainty exists about the datasets used to assess the extent of degraded land in Indonesia. It is recommended that the datasets are validated through field research. Furthermore, in this research an assumption for the yield of bamboo is made, which can be tested against the actual yield of a bamboo plantation on degraded land in Indonesia. Also, socioeconomic and environmental effects of bamboo plantations are not considered, which provides the opportunity to address these in further research. Finally, other end uses like biofuel, other conversion technologies like cofiring, and pretreatment technologies to enhance the conversion efficiency can be evaluated in more detail in future research.