At present, there are more than 50 (fifty) POME-based biogas installations operating in Indonesia. POME-based biogas installations is a bioenergy-based installation that utilizes palm oil mill effluent, where biogas becomes the final product of an anaerobic
biological process by microorganisms. Most biogas installations are used for energy, especially electricity for own use or even to be sold to PLN. Although many biogas installations have been operating in Indonesia, no safety guideline for the operation of biogas installations are available. The safety guidelines for each biogas installation can generally vary depending on each company’s experience in biogas installations and the technology used. The safety aspect of biogas installations is very important, not only to protect workers and visitors in biogas installations, but also to protect the relatively high investment required by biogas installations.

In order to achieve sustainable, efficient and reliable biogas installation operations, the Directorate of Bioenergy, DG NREEC partners with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH through a joint project of The Promotion of Least Cost Renewables (LCORE-INDO) in drafting the Occupation Health, Security and Environment Guidelines in the Operation of POME-based Biogas Installations in Indonesia. The preparation of this guideline involves relevant stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Manpower, management of the Palm Oil Mill (POM) and biogas project developers who operate POME-based biogas installations. This guideline can be used as a general reference for stakeholders to make specific guidelines, for example technical instructions and SOPs that are more detailed in accordance with the needs of each company. Although this guideline is intended for POME based biogas installations, it can also be used as a reference for non POME-based biogas installations.

We realize that this guideline is still far from perfection. Therefore, we welcome constructive criticism and suggestions to improve this guideline in the future. We would like to thank all parties for your attention, support and cooperation in the preparation of this guideline. Hopefully this guideline can be useful for the biogas sector in Indonesia.