Indonesian Government (2014-2019) is committed to supply additional 35,000 MegaWatts of Electricity to support electricity needs of Indonesia. This plan is due to the gap of energy supply as demands from economic development, such as residential, business and industry activities increase. This study aims to assess how far Selo Sub-District has been able to be an energy resilient village. To analyse this, we took a survey at two villages that adopted biogas technology to provide energy at household levels. Despite the adoption is still slow (limited), we recognize the promising results of biogas adoption (3.6 households/year), particularly at the later stage of adoption. There are three factors that affect the implementation of rural biogas adoption, among others, the availability of resources, financial collaboration between governments and non governmental organisations and participation of stakeholders. These three factors are found in Selo although in a different condition. Rural biogas development in Selo Sub-District Boyolali shows a potential for an energy resilient village. In a wider context, the ability to provide energy at village scale level can be promising news.

Selo, a small agricultural-based village in Boyolali, West-Java, Indonesia has initiated small-scale rural biogas adoption as it presumably reduces the consumption of LPG, firewood, chemical fertilizer and (women’s) overall workload. As global warming from fossil fuel consumption, gender empowerment and self-sufficiency are becoming more pressing, it is useful to analyse the benefits of biogas as an alternative renewable energy technology (RET) provision in rural areas. This paper aims to assess the benefits of rural biogas adoption from an economic perspective, through calculating the direct and indirect benefits obtained from biogas adoption in Selo. For this, a field survey was carried out in Selo to ask questions to biogas users (N=21) and non-users (N=5) on their energy and fertilizer consumption, as well as emissions reductions resulting from biogas adoption. Based on the analysis, on average, a household with biogas saves 490 kWh month–1,20,000 IDR month–1,185 kg CO2e month–1.Chemical fertilizer consumption remains remarkably high, which may due to a lack of awareness on the potential of digester slurry by the farmers. The biogas quality of one household has also been determined by comparing its heating value to that of methane; the methane percentage (MP) was approximately 31%. The quality is considerably lower than expected from the literature (i.e. around 60%), which may be due to the farmers neither mixing nor supplying water to the dung. Trainings providing methods for improving digester overall effectiveness to particularly the women-folk may enhance digester management and thus biogas production, as they form the main primary operatives. Despite the room for improvement, the existing results clearly show that biogas adoption significantly reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, household energy costs, workload, improves environmental conditions and generates income through carbon credit exchange. Therefore, under the notions of sustainable development, environmental preservation and self-sufficiency, policy makers and NGOs should expedite their support in biogas development, e.g. by providing subsidies and awareness raising.

Indonesian Government (2014-2019) is committed to supply additional 35,000 MegaWatts of Electricity to support electricity needs of Indonesia. This plan is due to the gap of energy supply as demands from economic development, such as residential, business and industry activities increase. This study aims to assess how far Selo Sub-District has been able to be an energy resilient village. To analyse this, we took a survey at two villages that adopted biogas technology to provide energy at household levels. Despite the adoption is still slow (limited), we recognize the promising results of biogas adoption (3.6 households/year), particularly at the later stage of adoption. There are three factors that affect the implementation of rural biogas adoption, among others, the availability of resources, financial collaboration between governments and non-governmental organisations and participation of stakeholders. These three factors are found in Selo although in a different condition. Rural biogas development in Selo Sub-District Boyolali shows a potential for an energy resilient village. In a wider context, the ability to provide energy at village scale level can be promising news.