Government Through PLN Targets 100% of Teraliri Electric Village

Government Through PLN Targets 100% of Teraliri Electric Village

The government targets all villages in Indonesia to be electrified in 2020. At present there are 433 villages in Indonesia that cannot yet enjoy electricity and live in the dark.

At the Limited Meeting on the Rural Electricity Program, on April 3, 2020, which was held by President Joko Widodo through a video conference and was followed by several ministries and agencies, the coordination between ministries would be carried out given the geographical conditions of the villages which were very heavy. The targets of the Rural Electricity Program are mostly in the Provinces of Papua and West Papua.

"I order several ministries to support this program. Including the TNI to assist the process of operations in the field. After being explained earlier, I know, it is impossible for PLN to be able to do it alone, "said President Jokowi at the Limited Meeting.

PLN President Director Zulkifli Zaini said President Joko Widodo's direction was very clear, namely asking PLN to coordinate with other parties as soon as possible to accelerate this program.

"Earlier, the President conveyed that this program was not solely aimed at bringing electricity to villages in Papua. It is hoped that with the presence of electricity, the economy and productivity of citizens will increase and children will be able to study until nightfall, "he added.

To complete this big work, PLN is innovating unconventionally, because attracting new networks to these villages will take a long time and will cost a lot.

"We know that the terrain in Papua is very heavy. Most of the villages are in the mountains thousands of meters. There is no road, no transportation. For this reason, we use the spatial optimization and pattern recognition approaches. In that way, we use local energy, "he said.

"To save it, PLN is innovating to use Electric Tubes or Talis. Similar to Powerbank, but it can be used to illuminate one house, because this concept is indeed a portable sized power bank that can be carried," said Zulkifli.

The Electric Tube itself is a continued innovation of PLN's collaboration with five universities namely UI, ITB, IPB, UGM, and Cendrawasih University, which in 2019 launched the 'Bright Papua' program. The program involved 500 students from the five tertiary institutions. Talis is the result of the next stage of innovation developed from the program.

Meanwhile, in its implementation, PLN has the support of many parties. One of them is TNI. Since some of these villages are located in vulnerable areas, the TNI will participate in securing their implementation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Rural Development, Underdeveloped Regions and Transmigration (Kemendes & PDTT) and local governments in the two provinces of Papua will support the procurement of Electric Tubes.

To ensure the availability of the budget, the Ministry of Finance will make the Rural Electricity Program included in the state budget, while the Ministry of SOEs ensures good governance in its implementation. This program is also supported by the Presidential Staff Office, Cabinet Secretariat, Bappenas, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Zulkifli said that PLN had prepared a detailed design program for the Rural Electricity Program internally. "Once the Covid-19 pandemic situation is normal, we will immediately execute it," he concluded.