On the second day, the PYC Research Team visited Pemping Island, Belakang Padang Village, Batam City. Pemping Island was one of the outermost islands directly bordering Singapore. The electricity source for Pemping Island was also derived from Gas and Steam Power Plants (PLTGU) and was only able to illuminate the island during the nighttime.
During their visit, the team had the opportunity to meet with the secretary and staff of Pemping village, as well as the local community. They discovered that the community faced many challenges, such as electricity was not available 24 hours a day and limited supply of oil fuel with quotas and high prices. These challenges significantly impacted productivity of the community, most of whom were fishermen and farmers. The limited electricity made it difficult for fishermen and farmers to store their seafood and agricultural produce in refrigeration units. Additionally, food vendors struggled to use electric cooking equipment. As an outermost island, fuel supply was crucial for the mobility of the population to and from the island. Limited quotas and above-average prices posed challenges for the community and were likely to reduce productivity.
The visit on the second day continued to the two largest reservoirs in Batam, namely Duriangkang and Trembesi reservoirs. Initially, the Duriangkang Reservoir was built by damming the Duriangkang River at its mouth, directly adjacent to the sea. The purpose of building the reservoir was to address the increasing demand for raw water alongside the population growth and industrial development in Batam City. In the future, the two large reservoirs in Batam will play a role in electricity production as part of efforts to make Batam a Hub for Renewable New Energy Development (EBT). This comes after BP Batam, along with PT Batam Sarana Surya and PT TBS Energi Utama Tbk, signed a cooperation agreement for the lease of reservoirs to provide reservoir inundation infrastructure in the Floating Solar Power Plant project.
