Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, Apr 10, 2015
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| Photovoltaics on the eastern islands of Sumba are being used for electricity generation. (Antara Photo/Hafidz Mubarak) |
Waingapu,
Sumba. Five years ago, Dorkas Manuhuluk, a Sumbanese headmistress, would ask
her staff to ride a bike for 45 minutes to a neighboring village just to make
copies of question sheets for her students.
“It’d be
free if we used our own motorcycle, but we don’t own one. We’d call an ojek
[motorcycle taxi] which costs Rp 50,000 ($3.80) for one trip,” said Dorkas, who
currently heads Praimarada Elementary School in Umamanu village, one-and
-a-half hours’ drive southwest of Waingapu — the biggest city in East Sumba
district, East Nusa Tenggara.
Markus
Karepi Muama, a teacher at Praimarada, said sixth graders would light kerosene
lamps as they stayed overnight at the school, studying for an upcoming national
examination.
“For a
whole month ahead of national exam, we teach and repeat as much material as
possible with the students every evening,” said Markus.
Meanwhile,
farmers in East Sumba district’s two
neighboring villages — Rakawatu and Kondamara, located some 70 kilometers west
of Waingapu — would often stop growing and harvesting paddies during an
unusually long dry season on the island.
“During the
dry season, we would pump the water from a nearby spring,” said Made Raspita,
one of the farmers.
“For a long
while, we would use diesel as fuel for the water pump generator, regardless its
skyhigh price,” he added.
Affected by
the hot, dry air from the deserts of Northern Australia, Sumba — one of the
southernmost islands in the archipelago — does not receive nearly as much
rainfall as the islands to the north.
November to
March is the rainy season for Sumba, while the sun shines on the island during
the rest of the year. This means farmers consume massive amount of diesel to
run the water pump generator to help the irrigation system.
Electricity
shortage
In 2010,
researchers from two international nongovernmental organizations, Hivos and
Winrock, released a study that found less than 25 percent of Sumba’s 686,000
residents have access to electricity at home.
Researchers
also discovered the electricity used by the locals in Sumba was heavily sourced
from non-renewable energy, such as diesel and kerosene, which is shipped in
from outside the island, resulting in higher operational costs.
State
electric utility PLN has cited Sumba’s relatively sparse population as the
reason the firm remains reluctant to install a more robust electrical grid to
electrify the island’s remote villages.
“It costs
about Rp 300 million per kilometer of electrical extension grid.”
“It’s too
costly for us considering the small amount of people that will use the
electricity,” Khairullah, area manager of PLN in Sumba, told The Jakarta Globe
on Tuesday.
When the
Jakarta Globe visited Praimarada Elementary School on Monday, the nearest
electricity pole to the school was some five kilometers away — one that also
looked questionably functional.
Meanwhile,
the last standing electricity pole on the road leading to Rakawatu and
Kondamara was about 40 minutes away from the two villages.
Since March
2011, PLN has instead provided remote villages across the archipelago with
energy-saving lamps, known locally as Sehen, which are sources of artificial
light that reduce the amount of electricity drawn from the local grid, since
they are connected to a solar panel.
These lamps
can stay lit for about six hours.
The light
at the end of the tunnel
Joint
research from the two NGOs found that Sumba is rich in renewable energy
sources, such as solar, wind, water and biomass.
Hivos and
Winrock then chose Sumba as the island to launch it’s ambitious project — for
the island’s entire population to gain access to electricity generated from
renewable energy by 2025.
The project
called “Sumba Iconic Island” was launched in 2010 with the full support of
Indonesia’s Energy Ministry and the PLN in Sumba.
Drawing
global attention. In May 2013, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) committed $1
million to support the technical side of the project.
The
Norwegian Embassy in Indonesia then joined in October 2013, funding 600,000
euros ($644,000) for the program.
“This
program strives for humanity sovereignty. And energy is important for people,”
Stig Traavik, Norway’s ambassador to Indonesia, told the Jakarta Globe when
asked why the embassy decided to partake in the project.
“Norway as
a nation that cares about the environment, clean energy and resources of the
future, this is a program where it all comes together — including poverty
reduction. This is an illustration of what we would like to continue doing,” he
added.
Fruitful
and promising result
Four years
after the program was launched, some areas of Sumba have experienced the same,
abundant benefits from power plants that operate on renewable energy.
In April
last year, a 1.5 kilowatt-hour (kWh)
solar panel was installed at Praimarada Elementary School, providing
full electricity for the school’s administrative and teaching activities.
“If we want
to make copies of something, we can just print it out now with our own printer.
We’re spending much less money this way,” said Dorkas.
“If we
receive study books late from the distributor, we can ask for the softcopy and
print them out.”
“When we’re
doing the preparation activity ahead of the national exam, students can now
learn under sufficient lighting and we’ve stopped using kerosene lamps,” Markus
added.
Across the
island
Residents
at other villages also said they have had a great results since power plants
run with renewable energy sources were built and began operating at their
villages a couple of years ago.
“The power
generator can provide electricity for the whole village,” said Umbu Tamu,
leader of a small management team for a biomass power plant at Rakawatu, which
has capacity of 50 kilovolt-amperes.
“We’ve
stopped using diesel since the water pump generator is now running on solar
energy.”
“The
generator can water our paddy and vegetable field,” Made said, referring to a
solar panel installation set up two years ago for supplement the village’s
water pump generator. It can supply up to 80,000 liters of water.
During a
visit to several project sites in East Sumba district earlier this week, Energy
Minister Sudirman Said and Norwegian Ambassador Stig praised the successes of
the villages.
“One of
Jokowi’s management programs is how to reach energy sovereignty. I think this
is one of the ways that can and will expedite energy sovereignty in the
country,” Sudirman told the Jakarta Globe.
“I see a
great potential in Sumba. I think it would be inspiring, not only for the
population here but also for Indonesia if Sumba is able to reach this goal of
becoming 100 percent on renewable energy,” said Stig.
Whose
responsibility?
Modern
technology needs proper and periodical maintenance, which can require a massive
amount of budget.
These power
plants, however, are considered an off-grid electricity system, meaning it is
not part of any electrical grids that are operated and monitored by the PLN.
“The PLN
can only do maintenance for the on-grid system. But, we would be more than
happy if there’s a regulation that lets us do maintenance for the off-grid as
well,” said Khairullah.
As of now,
the villages and school appoint one person from a small committee to do regular
monitoring of the power plants.
The
electricity has become a source of income for the villages as it is sold off to
the public.
For
instance, Praimarada Elementary School charges anyone from neighboring villages
who wishes to use electricity for personal purposes, Rp 1,000 per use.
“People
mostly come to charge their mobile phone,” Markus said.
“The money
that we collect is entered into a book, and when the equipment needs service,
we can use the bulk that we have.”
Praimarada’s
solar panel operates on six batteries that can last for up to five years at a
cost of Rp 2 million each, according to Sandra
Winarsa,
program officer for sustainable energy at Hivos Regional Office Southeast Asia.
A similar
fee-collecting system has also been adopted in the village of Rakawatu, where
households that own television sets are charged Rp 50,000 per month and those
who only use the electricity for lighting pay Rp 35,000 monthly, Tamu said.
“The
monthly fee is not that much. But, that’s how much we can contribute from our
income,” Tamu added.
“We don’t
receive any funding from outside to help operational expenses. If the
government could help us with the maintenance cost, then that would be great.”
Sudirman
said the people could request funds from the regional government should they
need to fix or replace parts of the power plants.
“If the
residents need a huge amount of funds for maintenance, they can ask the
regional government through the DAK [specific allocation fund] program.”
“It is
permitted by the ministry to use the funds to substitute old units,” the energy
minister told the Jakarta Globe.
Sudirman
added that he would evaluate the energy subsidy in the state budget to also
help people who generate electricity from renewable-energy based power plants.
“It is our
homework and this is something that needs to be reviewed so that energy subsidy
can be fair and even for everyone,” he said.
“The
subsidy could be also by providing seed funds to help set up the power plants.”
Where’s
next after Sumba?
Sudirman
said he would form a special committee to help the ministry frame a nationwide
blueprint for power plants that operate on renewable energy.
“The
committee will also help push [Sumba] to expedite its target — if possible by
2020 — in becoming an example of an island in Indonesia that completely uses
renewable energy,” Sudirman said.
“There is
not yet a developed industry [in Indonesia] for renewable energy.”
“It will be
soon enough we require more equipment [to support renewable energy].”
“It is then
important to educate the people that renewable energy is our future,” he added.
Sudirman
also believed Sumba could be a living example for other areas across the
country, saying that the next government must put forward the interest of
renewable energy in the country above all else.
“Do not mix
politics with energy development. Political interests do not last forever, but
energy development does and it takes a long time. It also requires a technical
approach,” he said.
“There are
many other areas in the country similar to Sumba. Should the renewable energy
goal be achieved, it will be an easy example to duplicate in other areas.”
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