Energy policy advice and short courses on electricity industry design
for the integration of renewable energy, storage and flexible demand

Australian Development Research Award (ADRA) 2008-2011: Overcoming Barriers to Renewable Energy in Rural Indonesia by Community Capacity Building

 Maria Retnanestri learning the experiences of PV water pumping system from users in Eastern Indonesia

The Australian Development Research Award (ADRA) EFC011 Project is an interdisciplinary research project involving UNSW staff in conjunction with Indonesian collaborators. The project is funded by AusAID through its ADRA 2007 funding round.

The objective of the project is to identify and disseminate ways to overcome barriers to the use of photovoltaic energy systems (PVES) and other renewable energy resources to facilitate sustainable development for communities in rural Indonesia that do not have access to conventional electricity supply.

In particular, the project aims to better understand why some renewable energy technology (RET) projects succeed while others fail to facilitate sustainable rural development, by looking at what worked, what went wrong, and what needs to be done to maintain energy service accessibility, availability and acceptability, and then to develop and transfer practical know-how to policy makers, Indonesian institutions, project designers & implementers and rural communities. 

Research work at UNSW associated with the project extends beyond Indonesia to include other Asian and Pacific Countries, particularly China, Nepal and Tonga.

UNSW Research Project Team:
Prof. Hugh Outhred - Principal Investigator
Dr. Maria Retnanestri - Research Leader, Indonesia researcher
Dr. Stephen Healy - Research Supervisor
Dr. Muriel Watt - Research Supervisor
Ms. Long Seng To (PhD Research Student) – China & Nepal researcher

Tevita Tukunga (PhD Research Student) – Tonga researcher

 Project activities and timeline 2009-2011

ADRA Activities 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011