COMMUNITY MINI HYDRO POWER SUPPLY FOR INDIGENOUS VILLAGERS IN KG. REDIK POS HAU, GUA MUSANG, KELANTAN

Renewable energy, derived from sources like solar, wind, and hydropower, plays a crucial role in mitigating carbon emissions. Unlike fossil fuels, these sources produce energy with minimal greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable energy landscape. As part of embracing the energy transition and creating sustainable energy, Kuala Lumpur Section Society of Petroleum Engineering (KLSSPE) Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) program team collaborated with Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) to install a mini-hydro power supply at Kampung Redik, Pos Hau, Gua Musang, Kelantan.

The indigenous or “Orang Asli” village in Kg. Redik Pos Hau, Gua Musang is a remote area inland with no access to paved road facilities located 25 km from Gua Musang town. The Pos Hau area has 10 villages where Kg Redik is one of the villages in Pos Hau with a population of 50.

The energy supply for the village is mainly supplemented by Diesel Generator i.e. Genset, solar and hydro all at once. The most secure supply came from diesel which never failed to start at exactly the time of need and incurred RM400 per month for villagers. The village runs on natural gas for cooking, and diesel GenSet from 6.30 pm to midnight to provide secure and vital electricity living at the village and to keep things going. Beyond midnight, there is limited electricity supply.

During the daytime, solar panel struggled to supply consistent supply of power with the lack battery storage system and unpredictable weather (heavy rain most of the time). So, hydrocarbons picked up the load to ensure villagers can satisfy essential needs.

Mini Hydro power installation supplemented the electricity requirement which is where KLSSPE wanted to have enhanced and reliable hybrid system to enable reliability and availability throughout the day and year. It is also to improve the community standard of living in the spirit of solidarity and conscientiousness to the wellbeing of the people around us, in line with KLSSPE D&I theme “Embracing Diversity for Ethnicity”.

The effort is focusing on charitable cause to Indigenous Villagers in Kampung Redik Pos Hau in meeting the following objectives:

• Provide electricity via installation of mini hydro with 10KW capacity for 23 houses of the residents, and 7 other buildings using water resources.
• Reduce usage of generator set for electricity supply in turn can save costs and improve the socio-economic of the population.
• Provide continuous electricity to the villagers and enable them to use other electrical facilities such as refrigerators, TVs and so on.

Officially started mini hydro project on October 21, 2023, by water catchment groundbreaking to provide electricity for the Community of Pos Hau village.  Project launching and site visit i.e. initiating phase 1 on laying the pipeline along the river for Mini hydro power supply to the village has been a great success with excellent team effort with UMK indeed. The project will continue to progress as planned and reach the ultimate milestone of powering up Kpg Redik using mini hydro hence creating uncounted smiles and happiness for the villages by early 2024 to live their life.

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