Hybrid power generator lifts village out of poverty

Hybrid power generator lifts village out of poverty

P.J.Leo, The Jakarta Post, Oeledo, East Nusa Tenggara

It was not until the year 2000 that electricity reached Oeledo
village in the regency of Rote Ndao. Oeledo villagers rightly
feel proud of this, especially because their electricity is
generated by a hybrid system, touted to be the only one ever
employed in the Asia Pacific region.

With a capacity of 20,000 Watts, the small power generator is
able to supply power to 127 of Oeledo's 400 families. The fact
that they are located across a vast sprawling area poses a
problem in power distribution.

The system combines wind power, solar power and diesel
generators to produce electricity. But so far, the diesel
generator functions as a back-up only.

The use of this hybrid system has attracted quite a number of
curious foreigners to the village, to see just how well it
operates. Villagers say that the electrical power supply has
never been interrupted.

On other islands across the country, Java and Bali, for
example, electrical power generally comes from hydro-electrical
power plants. Understandably, in the present dry season, a short
supply of water has led to an acute crisis of electricity. If the
dry season persists until late November, state-owned electricity
company PLN will have to rotate blackouts in several regions
across the country

It is really an irony to see that many areas of Java and Bali,
for example, have to take turns receiving PLN electricity
supplies while in faraway Oeledo, on a quite remote area of Rote
island, there is no interruption in power supplies despite the
drought.

Oeledo enjoys the uninterrupted electricity thanks to the
Women In Transition Foundation - better known as the Womintra
Foundation - which brought the technology to the village through
its E-7 Project.

The foundation, which sought to eradicate poverty and empower
women in Oeledo, enjoys the support of G-7, a group of seven
wealthy countries -- the United States, Japan, Canada, Italy,
Germany and France and Britain (which is not involved in the
project) -- hence the name E (Electricity)-7 originates.

"Oeledo village is a pilot project where a practical,
efficient and appropriate power-generating technology has been
applied in an effort to empower the locals," said the
foundation's director, Susy MD Katipana.

Indeed, since the hybrid power-generating system brought
electricity to the village in 2000, Oeledo has attracted other
developing countries in Asia and Africa. On Aug. 25, 2003, for
example, delegates from Papua New Guinea, the Philippines,
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan
visited the village for a comparative study of the hybrid power-
generating system.

"Before the introduction of electricity, the village was
backward, and people's income was low," said Katipana. "Thanks to
electricity, they can raise their monthly income from some Rp
400,000 to over Rp 1 million. The villagers use electricity for
their home industries and other economically beneficial
activities," she added.

The presence of electricity has encouraged locals, who mostly
lack formal education, to learn new skills and do income-
generating activities.

"It took us four years to prove to the villagers that this
hybrid power generating system was useful to raise their living
standards. The Oeledo people cannot just accept something new
from the outset. They used to think that nothing was better than
the traditional know-how they inherited from their ancestors,"
Katipana said.

The foundation spent the whole of 1996 surveying villages in
East Nusa Tenggara to find the right one for a pilot project.
After picking Oeledo for the program, they spent another year
preparing locals to work in the power-generating plant. The next
two years (1998-1999) saw the construction of this plant.

"Now that Oeledo can tap the benefits of this E-7 Project, the
local administration should support it, because the successful
project will also be introduced to other villages, in East Nusa
Tenggara in particular, and also in other provinces across the
country.