As one of the remotest areas in Indonesia, the Anambas Islands doesn’t have reliable and equal access to electricity. Those who live in villages far from the capital city, like Kiabu village, rely heavily on diesel generators to power their homes and the entire village. The utilization of diesel generators is not only bad for the environment, but it’s also costly to ship diesel fuel to remote areas in the Anambas Islands.
As an organization that aims to conserve and preserve the ecosystems of the Anambas, we feel the responsibility to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel energy in our day-to-day work, especially at our Recycling Centre and Waste Management Facilities which require a good amount of electric energy consumption to manage waste.
This year, we are one of the organizations from a total of 800 applications that have been chosen for a solar energy grant by the Honnold Foundation. The $52,159 grant money has made it possible for us to install a solar power system at our Recycling Centre in Kiabu village and the newly-build Waste Management Facilities in Candi and Langir villages.
We partnered up with a third-party solar installer from Batam to oversee the whole process and to train the villagers who will be in charge of the maintenance. The solar power project implementation started in August in the three villages, four villagers were hired to do the installation in each village, and by late September the installer visited the sites for a final inspection of the solar energy system.
This solar power project is a major milestone not only for us but for the Anambas communities as well. The Recycling Centre and Waste Management Facilities are the first waste management establishments in Anambas that are powered by solar energy.
With the utilization of solar energy, we expect to see an increase in the operational effectiveness of three places in managing waste, more villagers are empowered economically through the production of upcycled products and waste bank activity and gain more knowledge about waste management and renewable energy.