Figure 1. All parties involved in the solar home system grant program, including PYC, IPS, Unhan and Brigif 3 of Marine Forces.
International Power Supply (IPS) officially handing over the solar home system (SHS) pilot project to Indonesia Defense University (Unhan/IDU) as a grant program for the use in Sorong military post. The Purnomo Yusgiantoro Center (PYC), as one of the organizers, also presented in the ceremony and gave a little speech to appreciate all the parties involved in this program. There are also other parties showed up in the ceremony, including Directorate General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (Ditjen EBTKE), Marine Forces 3 (Pasmar 3), Infantry Brigade 3 (Brigif 3) of Marine Forces, Navy Fleet Command 3 (Koarmada 3), and Representative of Indonesian Navy Headquarters. The grant from IPS was a 10 kWh solar system with three main components, namely 28 x 345 Wp solar panels, 24 x 2317 Ah batteries and a hybrid power converter (Exeron).
After the ceremony, the event was followed up by a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to give more insight to the participants about the solar home system, including how it works and what are the advantages. The marines were interested in the presentation and threw some questions. Moreover, Ditjen EBTKE also gave a brief speech on Indonesia renewable energy target and encouraged everyone to involves reaching the 23% renewable energy target in the Indonesia energy mix 2025.
This event is the final result of the research collaboration of three institutions, namely, IPS, IDU, and PYC. IDU as an educational institution and PYC as an independent research institution collaborating with IPS companies from Bulgaria to research the potential of renewable energy and create an SHS pilot project in Sorong, West Papua. This collaboration was previously initiated by the Indonesian Ambassador to Bulgaria and Prof. Purnomo Yusgiantoro (Founder of PYC) in 2017. The aim is to increase the application of renewable energy in Indonesia, especially in the border and outer regions in Indonesia. Sorong West Papua was chosen because in this region a new defense area is currently being developed, especially for marine defense force, Brigif 3 of Marine Forces. The development of the defense area requires an electricity supply.
