Riau Islands

Many unelectrified communities

Many of the households in this province of Indonesia are still not electrified (~80% electrification ratio as of early 2018; Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources).  Nine of the villages we visited are completely off-grid and only some have electricity through government funded solar PV systems.  We continue to maintain a strong relationship with the local communities and businesses to empower them for continuous and sustainable growth.

Our recent activities in the area include technical training of the solar PV operators, site visits for technical inspections of the existing solar PV systems, and continuous community engagement.  Productive uses of energy that have high potential to increase the communities' economic activities and income.  These include farming  for peppercorn and rubber, fishing , tourism for the salt water hot springs. and wild honey cultivation make up some of their economic activities.

What's next and how you can help:

1. Electrify other households in the area, but they're quite spread out.  So much more conducive to solar home systems or pico-grid systems

2. Productive use of energy activities that increase their income level such as peppercorn processing, fruit drying (durian as an example), and wild honey harvesting and packaging

3. Eco tourism for the salt water hotsprings