As Tamar Ana Java weaves a red pareo in the setting sun, her neighbor lights a lamp hanging from the sloping roof of her tanis. It was a light powered by a small solar panel, but in this remote village it meant a lot. Stand-alone solar systems in some of the world's most remote places are bringing more hours, more money and more social gatherings to villages like Java.
It ends at sunset before the village got electricity two years ago. The people of Lainda on the island of Sumba, in eastern Indonesia, save the carpets they harvest or the coffee they harvest to sell in the market as the light fades.
Some well-to-do households turn on their noisy generators in the middle of the night, belching out roaring smoke. They connected lightbulbs to old car batteries, which had no regulator and quickly turned on or off household appliances. Children sometimes read with homemade oil lamps, but sometimes they burn houses blown by the wind.
This changed when massive social enterprise projects brought small-scale individual solar systems to Lainda and villages across the island.
For Java, this means much-needed additional income. When her husband died of a stroke in December 2022, Java didn't know how to pay for her children's education. But after a while, when the electric light falls on her neighbor, she realizes that she will continue knitting clothes for the market till night.
"It was dark at night but now it's bright until morning," said the 30-year-old mother of two, carefully planting the red threads and pushing them against the machine. "So I'm working tonight... to pay for the kids."
Hundreds of millions of people around the world live in communities without regular access to electricity, and these off-grid solar systems provide limited access to electricity in those areas before reaching the grid.
According to the International Energy Agency, around 775 million people around the world will be without electricity by 2022. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the largest number of people without electricity. In the year A UN/World Bank report released in 2021 shows that lack of electricity in homes is driving people into poverty. According to the report, access to electricity is difficult for the poor and people without electricity find it difficult to participate in the modern economy.
In recent years, Indonesia has provided electricity to millions of people, rising from 85% to about 97% between 2005 and 2020, according to the World Bank. However, more than half a million people still live in areas where the network does not reach Indonesia.
Although hurdles remain, experts say the island's off-grid solar program could be replicated across the wider archipelago and bring renewable energy to remote communities.
Villagers often gather in the evenings to continue the day's work, gather to watch television programs on cell phones, and help children with homework get enough light to read.
"I really couldn't study at night," said Antonius Pekambani, a 17-year-old student from Ndapaimi village in East Sumba. - But now I can.
Solar power is still rare in Indonesia. As the country seeks more solar power as part of its climate goals, it is limited by laws that prevent households from selling power to the grid, eliminating a cost recovery mechanism that helps people pay for solar power. in other parts of the world.
Since 2019, local organizations like Sumba Sustainable Solutions, based in the eastern part of Sumba, have seen the potential to help. To subsidize the cost, it is partnering with international donors to provide imported solar homes that power light bulbs and charge cell phones over three years for $3.50 a month.
The company offers solar-powered devices such as cordless lights and grinders. He said more than 3,020 solar lights and 62 wind turbines have been installed on the island, covering more than 3,000 houses.
Imelda Pindi Mbitu, 46, from Walatunga, said she spends her days grinding maize and coffee beans between two stones to sell to the local market. Now he brings solar power generation mill to the village.
“With a hand mill, if I start work in the morning, I can't finish it until the afternoon. I can't do anything else. He sits in the log cabin and says, "If you use a car, it will be faster. So now I can do other things."
According to the World Bank, similar programs in Bangladesh and other sub-Saharan African countries have helped provide electricity to millions of people.
But some smaller off-grid solar systems don't provide as much energy as grid access. The systems do not generate enough power for a large public address or church while charging cell phones, light bulbs, and windmills.
JT Orlando, an engineer at Sumba Sustainable Solutions, said off-grid solar projects also face obstacles.
The organizational model is heavily dependent on donors for the cost of solar equipment, which many villagers cannot afford at market prices. Villages without stand-alone solar panels are stuck on waiting lists as Sumba Sustainable Solutions seeks additional funding. They are seeking support for Indonesia's $20 billion Fair Energy Transition Partnership agreement signed by several developed countries and international financial institutions.
There are problems with buyers who can't pay, especially since the island is plagued by locusts that are decimating crops and the livelihoods of villagers. And when solar systems break down, they require imported parts that are hard to find.
