PALAPA - Distributed power generation for the development of underdeveloped villages in Indonesia

Indonesia has been an independent country since August 17, 1945. However, through 66 years of independence, there are still many people living without electricity. It is very ironic because Indonesia has a very abundant source of natural resources. PALAPA takes advantage of natural and renewable resources to distribute electricity to underdeveloped villages in Indonesia. PALAPA is a program initiated by students from the Electrical Engineering Student Organization at Bandung Institute of Technology. It aims to build energy independent villages that take advantage of the energy provided by natural resources and turn it into economic activities to help support the welfare of the village. Over the past 3 years, PALAPA has been successfully implemented at two locations in Indonesia in two phases. In the first phase, PALAPA 1, the village of Jayamukti was given energy through hydroelectric power plants in a picohydro scale. In the second phase, PALAPA 2, the villages of Mekarwangi were given energy through solar cells implemented throughout the area. There are 3 main focuses of the PALAPA, which are energy, economic, and educational development. The development of energy is done through the implementation of renewable natural resources such as hydro power and solar thermal energy. The choice of which renewable energy source to use depends on the resources available at a given village. The electricity generated is used to illuminate the villages and increase economic activities in the area. Economic activities include starting farms that use electricity to increase the quality and quantity of their stock, for example chicken egg incubators. The educational development is done by providing educational materials to the villager´s children through libraries. Libraries filled with books and lectures are available for the people to learn from. The three focuses stated above are activities that have been implemented in the past phases of PALAPA. We are currently researching in- - to more activities that can be done to improve the quality of this program for future phases. Development in telecommunication and the environment are examples of what we are researching to implement in future phases as PALAPA has become an ongoing project in our student organization.