Tri Mumpuni’s company, IBEKA, helps
advocate for and establish micro-hydropower
operations in rural Indonesian communities.
Credit: Ashoka

Community-Based Micro-Hydropower Electrifies Rural Indonesia

Around 75 million people in Indonesia live without electricity. Creating small-scale energy generation is the most promising approach for serving this population. But the right technology alone hadn't brought power to the people until Tri Mumpuni, who was awarded an Ashoka-Lemelson Fellowship in 2007, began addressing the financial and regulatory obstacles to "micro-hydropower."

Previous local micro-hydropower operations had been unable to compete with the state-owned and subsidized electricity company, PLN. So Mumpuni's organization, IBEKA, fought to connect its community-based, off-grid systems to PLN’s grid, enabling each community to sell its power to PLN. In addition to drawing private investment, IBEKA’s model avoids the major environmental damage caused by large-scale hydropower projects.
 

The H2Sol project harnesses abundant solar energy to
increase access to water for irrigation. Credit: Ashoka

IBEKA advocates for community ownership of each micro-hydropower system, allowing community members to share in the planning, design, operation, and funding of their local project. The community benefits from access to electricity and from rural development programs funded with the generated revenue. Thanks to Mumpuni, more than sixty rural communities across Indonesia have gained control of electricity generation.

Today, IBEKA is developing a plastic turbine with a small wattage capacity. Because the design is affordable and easy to maintain, several families in isolated areas can pool their money to cover the cost of the product and its installation. IBEKA intends for its turbine design to be “open-source”—it will post it on the web to encourage dissemination around the world.

Read more: Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow page for Tri Mumpuni