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Empowering Coastal Communities for a Just Transition - Highlights from the POWERE Capacity Building Workshops

Empowering Coastal Communities for a Just Transition - Highlights from the POWERE Capacity Building Workshops

August 26th 2026

By supporting sustainable seaweed farming and women in off-grid coastal communities across the Global South, the Participation of Women in Renewable Energy (POWERE) project connects green technology with social equity. The UKRI-funded project promotes progress in low-carbon energy transitions, centred around remote Indonesian islands.

Under this project, Aquatera and our POWERE project partners are working with women-led groups to reduce reliance on diesel through exploring the use of Floating Photovoltaics (FPV).

Aquatera recently co-designed the methodology and delivery framework for a series of Women Self Help Group capacity building workshops to help advance South Sulawesi’s just energy transition through bridging innovative green technology and local livelihoods in Katinting and Rannu villages.

Two of these capacity building modules have now been delivered on-site by Aquatera Senior Consultant Dr Agung Iswadi, supported by Junior Consultants Jodi Setiawan and Chrisna Putra, the workshops were designed to strengthen community understanding of Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) systems and encourage participants to openly discuss and explore how FPV could transform their communities.

Centering Women in Energy Leadership

Across the workshops, 48 community representatives from local women’s self-help groups participated in presentations, group discussions, and practical demonstrations. The sessions developed participants’ understanding of FVP hardware, software, as well as the human-centred ‘orgware’ infrastructure - ensuring that local women have the skills to shape the future of their local energy infrastructure.

Hands-On Learning

Interactive elements helped participants consolidate learning from presentations and connected their learning to relevant real-world contexts.

Practical demonstrations using model boats helped participants understand how buoyancy and anchoring systems maintain stability in floating solar systems

olar-powered educational science toys let participants see first-hand how solar panels convert sunlight to electricity or mechanical force

Group reflection sessions prompted valuable discussion on the benefits of FPV for seaweed farming communities, and the value of community-based energy systems for their communities’ local economies and social infrastructure

We were delighted to see high levels of enthusiasm across the workshops in Katinting and Rannu. Participants were very actively engaged in learning activities and the proliferating discussions around how the FPV technology could be applied in their lives – including exploring community uses in battery charging and water pumping.

With growing interest from the women’s group taking on responsibility for system management, we are excited to see how POWERE can further build education, skills and confidence of the women-led self-help groups in forging a path towards greater energy independence and socio-economic resilience.

We wish to express our gratitude to Dr Runavia Mulyasari and Dr Diah Irawaty for co-facilitating these inspiring sessions. We also extend our thanks to all workshop attendees, whose valued participation and insights will be instrumental in shaping their coastal communities towards a cleaner, greener, more resilient future.