Off-grid solar lights up Indonesia's villages

LAINDEHA, Indonesia — As Tamar Ana Jawa wove a red sarong in the fading sunlight, her neighbor switched on a light bulb dangling from the sloping tin roof. It was just one bulb powered by a small solar panel, but in this remote village that means a lot.

In some of the world's most remote places, off-grid solar systems are bringing villagers like Jawa more hours in the day and more income.

Before the village got electricity less than two years ago, the day ended when the sun went down. Villagers in Laindeha, on the island of Sumba in eastern Indonesia, would set aside the mats they were weaving or coffee they were sorting to sell at the market as the light faded.

A few families who could afford them would start noisy generators that rumbled into the night, emitting plumes of smoke.

That has changed since grassroots social enterprise projects have brought small, individual solar panel systems to Laindeha and villages across the island.

For Jawa, it means much-needed extra income. "It used to be dark at night, now it's bright until morning," the 30-year-old mother of two said, arranging and pushing red threads at the loom. "So tonight I work ... to pay for the children."

Around the world, hundreds of millions of people live in communities without regular access to power, and off-grid solar systems are bringing limited access to electricity to some places years before power grids can ever reach them.

About 775 million people globally lacked access to electricity last year, according to the International Energy Agency. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are home to some of the largest populations without access to electricity.

In Indonesia there are still more than half a million people living in places the grid does not reach. While barriers remain, experts say off-grid solar programs on the island could be replicated across the vast archipelago nation, bringing renewable energy to remote communities.

"Off-grid solar there plays an important role, in that it will deliver clean electricity directly to those who are unelectrified," said Daniel Kurniawan, a solar policy analyst at the Institute for Essential Services Reform in Jakarta.

But for now, villagers like Jawa said the solar systems are making a big difference. "I'm grateful for this lamp," she said, sitting at the loom and nodding toward the hanging bulb. "It will be bright all night."

Agencies Via Xinhua