Jakarta. Kilang Pertamina Internasional Refinery Unit III recently took home a trophy for the social responsibility category at the 2023 World Petroleum Council (WPC) Excellence Awards. 

The refinery, which lies in Palembang, South Sumatra, becomes the only Indonesian and Southeast Asian company to outperform 400 other nominees and finalists. Pertamina won the award for its “Lighting More Hopes (Desa Energi Berdikari - Energy Self-Sufficient Village”) initiative with a paper titled “Lighting More Hopes: Enhancing Livelihood of Rural Communities through Empowerment in Sustainable and Cleaner Energy Sources". 

Handing over the trophy was the WPC Energy President Pedro Miras to Kilang Pertamina Plaju area manager for communications, relations & CSR Siti Rachmi Indahsari. Adi Suhendra (Officer I CSR & SMEPP) and (Engineer I Offsite & Product Distribution Process) were also present at the awarding ceremony.

A number of villages did not have access to electricity for many years but were home to fast-flowing water and tons of sunshine. Against this backdrop, Pertamina installed micro hydropower plants across 3 areas with a capacity of 28 kWh as part of the Desa Energi Berdikari initiative. The energy firm also set up solar panels that hold 8.2 kWp in capacity across 3 areas.

Pertamina’s Climate Village Program also became a finalist in the same social responsibility category. Pertamina submitted the program with a paper titled "Empowering Local Heroes Leadership: How Cultural Understanding Can Empower Local Leaders in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Efforts". As the title suggests, the program aims to empower local communities on climate change mitigation.

The Desa Energi Berdikari program in South Sumatera previously won an award at the 2022 International CSR Excellence Awards in London. It also became a runner-up at the 2021 WPC Excellence Award in Houston, US.

“Our commitment is to bring benefits to the community and environment by empowering the community while nurturing a common understanding of cleaner energy and sustainable climate actions,” Yulianto Triwibowo, the general manager at the Pertamina Plaju refinery, was quoted as saying in a recent press statement.

“We thank for everyone’s support, including the government, people, and the academics,” Yulianto said.

The two programs are part of Pertamina’s support towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and Goal 13 (Climate Action). As well as the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, particularly on the first two pillars.