The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and UNDP Deployed ‘Patriot Energi’ to Enlights VIllages with Solar-PV Power Plants
This morning, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) and the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP) inaugurated 23 Patriot Energi ACCESS Programs that served with the community for 18 months as facilitators in 23 villages in the East Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and Kalimantan. Central to develop electricity services from clean and sustainable energy sourced from solar power.
The 23 Patriot Energies are also part of the ACCESS project, a joint UNDP and ESDM project supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The main objective of the ACCESS project is to provide remote villages in Indonesia and Timor-Leste with access to electricity from renewable energy, particularly solar power.
In his report, Hendra Iswahyudi, Director of Planning and Infrastructure Development for EBTKE, said, “The 23 Patriot Energies were selected from 140 participants in the open selection and consisted of 16 men and seven women, all of whom were graduates from various educational backgrounds. They generally have more than three years of experience; some even have more than ten years of experience in community assistance. In the village, they will accompany the community during the construction of the PV mini-grid; assist the handover of PLTS assets from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to the Village Government; facilitate the selection, training and certification of local operators; establish a village electricity management unit; as well as helping to map the economic potential of the village.”
They have attended online training from 6 to 14 September 2021, as well as offline training from 20 to 24 September 2021 with materials that include: empowerment code of ethics, gender approach and social inclusion, participatory approach, introduction to PV mini-grid and solar infrastructure PV, operation and management of communal PV mini-grid, the establishment of Village-Owned Enterprises and Village Electricity Management Units, as well as technical assistance in identifying the village economy and compiling a sustainability analysis.
The Patriot Energy ACCESS program is part of a partnership between the United Nations Development Program Indonesia and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia, which is funded by a Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) grant through the ACCESS (Accelerating Clean Energy to Reduce Inequality) project. The ACCESS project will build 23 communal solar power plants with a 1.2 megawatts (MW) capacity in 23 villages in East Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi and Central Kalimantan.
"This ACCESS project is one of the most ambitious approaches in clean energy development because the assistance provided is not only in the form of power generation infrastructure but is accompanied by training and certification for residents as operators and the development of local electricity service management institutions." Said Sophie Kemkhadze, Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Indonesia.
"These energy patriots are very important because they will accompany and assist the local community during the preparation and implementation process, including later documenting all these activities as lessons for developing similar activities." In his direction, Dadan Kusdiana, Director General of New, Renewable and Renewable Energy Energy Conservation Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said, "The presence of these energy patriots is expected to help the community independently manage available energy sources, identify local potentials, which the community can utilise at competitive costs, simple management so that our people in remote areas can work on its energy."
It is hoped that these energy patriots can also be the triggers of change, especially for the 0.8 per cent of our brothers and sisters who do not yet enjoy electricity, those who live in 433 villages that are still pitch black, and those who live in 3,100 villages whose electricity uses efficient solar lamps.
The ACCESS project is expected to provide access to electricity for at least 20,000 people in Indonesia and Timor-Leste and access to water for 3,500 people in Timor-Leste through a total installation of approximately 1.2 MegaWatt of solar power generation. At least 30% of women are expected to be direct beneficiaries.
About ACCESS Program
The ACCESS project is implemented in Indonesia under a partnership with the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Timor-Leste Ministry of Stated Administration, with USD18 million in funding support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). In Indonesia, the project provides solar power systems to rural communities in four provinces across the country. In 2020-2023, the partnership will support the poor and most vulnerable communities in 23 villages in four provinces in Indonesia (East Nusa Tenggara, West Sulawesi, South-East Sulawesi, and Central Kalimantan provinces) and 25 villages in three municipalities of Timor-Leste (Municipality of Dili (Atauro), Bobonaro and Manatuto). The project aims to provide equitable and sustainable access to essential services to improve their livelihoods.
At the end of the project, with a minimum of 30% of women as direct beneficiaries and in compliance with social-environmental safeguards, The ACCESS Project is expected to result in access to electricity to at least 20,000 people in Indonesia and Timor-Leste and access to water to 3,500 people in Timor-Leste from the total installation of about 1.2 MegaWatt communal solar-PV power plants, improve the technical capacity of 80 local people and enhance the sustainability of built clean energy infrastructure at the village level by establishment of local energy service institutions.