Between SDGs 7th and the ACCESS Project UNDP

Electrification has an important role in various life sectors, starting from education, business, infrastructure, agriculture, communications, medicine, technology, and so on. Therefore, a well-established energy system supports the development of a nation. Unfortunately, fossil fuels that have been major sources of electricity production for many decades produce a large amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. It can cause climate change and harm people’s well-being and the environment. Therefore, an energy transition toward clean energy utilization needs to be conducted immediately.^[1]

Through the 2030 agenda, there are 17 goals and 169 targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have been agreed upon by all countries to be achieved. The 7^th point of SDGs, affordable and clean energy, aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. Enormous clean energy projects in line with the 7^th point of SDGs are being conducted across regions and countries, including the Accelerating Clean Energy Access to Reduce Inequality (ACCESS) Project that aims to support the poor and most vulnerable communities to have equitable and sustainable access to essential services for improving their livelihoods.

The ACCESS Project is implemented in 23 villages in 4 provinces in Indonesia and 25 villages in 3 municipalities in Timor-Leste under a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia, UNDP Timor-Leste, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) of Indonesia, and the Ministry of State Administration (MSA) of Timor-Leste, that is funded from the grant of USD 18,028,509 from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Indonesia.

The ACCESS Project in Indonesia will address energy concerns by building communal solar power plants with a capacity of 23 to 89 kWp in each village. A remote monitoring system will be equipped in each solar power plant to allow distant and real-time monitoring, one of which aims to get information that can be used for verification of reduced GHG emissions.

The ACCESS Project will also facilitate the exchange of technical standards, skills, and experience from Indonesia to Timor-Leste as part of South-South Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) to provide electricity and clean water, particularly for water source identification, engineering, procurement, and installing solar PV water pumps and energy-saving solar lights in targeted villages in Timor-Leste as rural electrification and clean water access remain as challenges and development priorities for the country.

At the end of the project, the ACCESS Project is expected to result in access to electricity for at least 20,000 people in Indonesia and Timor-Leste and access to water for 3,500 people in Timor-Leste from the total installation of about 1.2 MWp communal solar power plants. In order to maintain sustainability, the ACCESS Project also improves the technical capacity of 80 local operators and establishes local energy service institutions. Hopefully, the ACCESS Project will succeed in achieving its targets that will contribute to the achievement of the 7^th point of SDGs in Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

Author: Dawam Faizul Amal

Reference:

1. United Nations, “Why the SDGs Matter - United Nations Sustainable Development,” 2023. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/why-the-sdgs-matter/ (accessed Mar. 08, 2023).