Following Biodiesel Success, Energy Ministry Encourages Private Sector to Build Ethanol Plants

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), through its Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE), Eniya Listiani Dewi, has stated that the government is encouraging the private sector to participate in building ethanol plants in Indonesia. She noted that this push is modelled on the success of the mandatory biodiesel programme, as part of efforts to meet the 20 per cent bioethanol blending target (E20) by January 2028. “Just like with biodiesel, we are strongly encouraging the private sector to be able to produce these (ethanol) plants,” Eniya said in Jakarta on Monday, 20 July 2026. To achieve this target, Eniya explained that the government is currently revising Presidential Regulation Number 40 of 2023 concerning the Acceleration of National Sugar Self-Sufficiency and the Provision of Bioethanol as a Biofuel. The revision will also re-regulate the blending capacity to achieve the correct E20 quality as previously stipulated. Eniya confirmed that further coordination regarding the revision of the Presidential Regulation is still being communicated between the Ministry of ESDM and the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. “Because the initiative for the revision of the Presidential Regulation lies there (Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs). So we are aligning it with the President’s directives,” Eniya stated. She added that although the physical construction of an ethanol plant is estimated to take only about one and a half years, the most critical aspect is ensuring the availability of local feedstock.