The role of youth in the development of new and renewable energy businesses

“Energy is a very trending topic to be discussed not only in Indonesia, but also around the world”, said Andri Pratiwa, a deputy sales director of Shell Indonesia (06/11/2020).

He added that the human population currently reached 8 billion and always increased year by year. It means that the human need for energy will be high, but the challenges lie in that conventional energy, such as fossil fuels will run out, and this energy is not environmentally friendly. So, through Shell LiveWIRE Energy Solution, Andri hopes that as a platform for the young generation to solve these challenges, and in line with Nawacita of President Joko Widodo, that is sovereignty in energy, especially renewable energy.

Shell LiveWIRE Energy Solution is a program initiated by Shell Indonesia that has the mission to start and develop business, especially in the field of energy. To implement this program, Shell Indonesia, is accompanied by the School of Business and Management(SBM)-ITB as the program implementing partner.   

In the webinar, the first speaker Tri Mumpuni as director of Inisiatif Bisnis dan ekonomi keyakyatan (IBEKA) revealed the importance of renewable energy to be developed. “Indonesia is located in the Ring of Fire so that  it is very potential to implement micro geothermal, to fulfill our need of energy”, she said.

In her presentation, she also presented a video about her effort in developing renewable energy in Indonesia, especially in remote areas. Tri Mumpuni with her team have installed more than 82 micro-hydro systems not only in Indonesia, but also in Rwanda and the Philippines. Through her explanation, she motivated the young generation to become more concerned about renewable energy to be developed in Indonesia because of the big potential, and can also help society with electricity.

There were also two young speakers having successfully developed renewable energy, and who were also the winners of Shell LiveWIRE Energy Solution Competition. The first one was Izza Aulia who established Jember Future Energy (JFE). He got inspired from the waste problem in his village so, through JFE, Izza with his team utilized organic waste such as tofu dregs and livestock waste to produce biogas named BIOPE (Biogas Polyethylene). Then, the second one was Fano Elfian who is the CEO & Co-Founder of Ailesh Power, that utilized organic waste and biomass residue to be Gastra (Gas transformation). “Villages have a lot of waste that can be utilised for renewable energy, the challenge is how to empower  the society  to form an energy-independent village” Fano closed.