Mission
Pioneering energy transition: Renewable energy sustainability and affordability
There is a high demand for oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) pellets/briquettes as a new renewable energy source from Malaysia. EFB, the biomass left after extracting oil from palm fruit, is abundantly available in the country. We aim to export EFB pellets/briquettes to Japan to help diversify its biomass renewable energy fuel sources and create economic opportunities.
In Japan, the use of biomass for renewable energy generation has increased to 4.6% in 2022, up from 4.1% the previous year.
However, the country still heavily relies on importing biomass fuel such as wood pellets, palm kernel shell (PKS), and wood chips.
While biomass power plants are being constructed in various regions, the supply of domestically produced woody biomass fuel is limited, leading to the need for imports.
Despite the benefits of renewable energy, factors such as supply and pricing must be considered for affordability and utility.
Wood pellets are more expensive than PKS, leading to a rapid increase in imported wood pellets due to difficulties in procuring more PKS in Japan.
Japan imported 4.41 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2022. They also imported 5.18 million tonnes of PKS. Japan imported wood pellets from Vietnam, Canada, and the United States, while PKS was sourced from Indonesia and Malaysia.
Other renewable energy sources in Japan include hydroelectric, wind power, and geothermal generation, but there is still much room for improvement in their renewable energy mix.