The Stakeholders’ Role in Sustaining Renewable Energy Systems in Sumba Island

Abstract

Sumba Iconic Island is a collective program established by the national government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) with various governmental and international institutions such as the National Electricity Company (PLN), Hivos, Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta, Asian Development Bank, and all level of local government from provincial, regency, municipality, district, and village level. This paper focuses on using qualitative data gained through interviews with stakeholders to find out the various operation and maintenance models of renewable energy power plants that are currently in practice in Sumba Island. This study shows that currently there are four models of operation and maintenance for systems throughout numerous villages in Sumba. The first one describes O&M being handled by trained locals, second one is handled by the village cooperative (Koperasi), the third one is collaboration between PLN and local government units or private sector, and the last one is collaboration with the private sector and village-own company (BUMDes). The first one mentioned is the weakest one, and faced many constraints such as lack of technical skill and the local peoples’ limited understanding. The other three models succeeded, to a certain extent, in sustaining the renewable energy system in the particular village