MERSING, 29 March – Another community project named as “Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Installation in Indigenous Village of Tewowoh, Mersing, Johor”, partially funded by the Institute of High Voltage and High Current (IVAT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), has been successfully officiated on 29 March 2022 by Ustaz Mohd Nazri Chik, Group Chief Financial Inclusion Officer, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) with the present of the Director of Centre of Community and Industry Network UTM, Associate Prof. Dr. Johari Surif and Director of IVAT UTM, Prof Dr. Zulkurnain Abdul Malek. Representatives from the project’s partners – Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli (JAKOA) Mersing, Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP) Mersing, Politeknik Port Dickson and Kolej Komuniti Segamat 2 – were also attended the ceremony. The project, which is one of the community programs of UTM- BIMB through a crowdfunding platform called Sadaqa House BIMB, was started in March 2021, and successfully completed in early March 2022. A total of RM114,200 fund under the platform was utilized to supply off-grid solar PV system to a total of 19 houses at the village.

The village which consists of 145 residents with a capacity of 19 houses has never enjoyed a continuous supply of electricity since it was built due to the location of the village which is located far inland and challenging geographical factors. According to JAKOA, it is the last indigenous village in Johor that has never received any assistance for electricity.

Residents usually use a small capacity petrol generator for 4 hours at a cost of RM10.00 per house or the equivalent of RM300.00 per month. Out of concern for this problem, UTM through the project leader, Prof. Madya Ts. Dr. Jasrul Jamani bin Jamian and another 9 researchers from School of Electrical Engineering UTM including 2 IVAT’s staff – Dr. Mona Riza Mohd Esa and Dr. Zulkarnain Ahmad Noorden – has proposed to BIMB to develop an off-grid solar PV system for each house in the village.

“Through the sponsorship of Sadaqa House BIMB, the UTM group in collaboration with 5 other partners namely ILP Kepala Batas, ILP Mersing, Politeknik Port Dickson, Politeknik Muadzam Shah and Kolej Komuniti Segamat 2 has successfully installed solar PV and new wiring for lights, fans and mobile phone chargers for all the houses in this village. In addition, energy limiting technology is also used to ensure that the system can last at least 5 to 20 years. With the installed system, the residents say they no longer need to turn on the generator in the early morning and can avoid noise in the early morning. In addition, the savings from the petrol’s cost help increase their monthly income slightly”, said Dr. Jasrul Jamani

Group photo among the project’s funders and partners. Front row from left: Dr. Jasrul Jamani, Mr. Noran – the village’s head, Mr. Shukri from ILP Mersing, Ustaz Mohd Nazri of BIMB, Dr. Johari from CCIN UTM, Prof. Zulkurnain from IVAT UTM, Mr. Nor Faizzi of JAKOA Mersing, Mr. Abdul Rahim from Politeknik Port Dickson

Left: Dr. Johari presenting a token of appreciation to Prof. Zulkurnain during the officiation ceremony

Group photo of Dr. Johari, Prof. Zulkurnain and project partners with UTM’s team, which consists of lecturers, undergraduate and postgraduate students of SKE UTM.

Among of the project’s team with one of the installed solar PV system at the indigenous village of Tewowoh.