The team members, consisting of Muhammad Farid Rizqi, I Putu Widyananda Putra, Aisyah Syahidatunnisa, Muhammad Fauzan Arfanjani, and Ferdiatma Budiarto, managed to surpass more than 200 finalists from various prestigious universities.

Their work was titled Renewable Energy-Based Power Plant Development Program Through Community-Based Organization to Increase Electrification Ratio Sustainably in Koak Village.

A team representative, I Putu Widyananda Putra, explained that their work is a strategy for developing and optimizing the potential of new and renewable energy in Koak Village, Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, based on strong local community-based institutions and empowerment.

^{The ITB Squad Team after conducting the final presentation (Doc. The ITB Squad Team).}

“We formulated institutions, management, and a rigorous implementation strategy catered to the characteristics of the people,” said I Putu Widyananda Putra.

The ITB Squad Team was driven to implement community empowerment knowledge in renewable energy projects in rural areas by actively involving the community, starting from the planning stage up until the management stage, all to optimize the energetic potential in the area.

By directly involving the people, it is hoped that the technology that has been implemented may be accepted, in line with the local needs, while also raising awareness of the importance of environmentally friendly energy for the future of the village.

The ITB Squad Team elaborated on the many stages that they went through to be able to win the Gold Medal. The first stage began with a structured distribution of tasks to each team member, along with recurring discussions to ensure each element of the manuscript is completed effectively. The main focus of the final stage is to create a presentation video that is not only engaging but also comprehensive and easy to understand by prioritizing clear message delivery and visuals that support audience understanding.

“Our strategy was to strengthen the methodology and the foundation of our ideas because it is considered highly fundamental and shows the great value of the ideas that we proposed. Other than that, we consulted with our supervising lecturer, Dr. Niken Prilandita, S.T., M.Sc., to gain input regarding the development of our ideas,” stated M. Farid Rizqi.

Moreover, Ferdi revealed that the competition process was not at all easy. They had to go through several selection stages, starting with the initial submission until the final presentation.

Other than that, they were also faced with a demanding schedule considering their position as students in the 5th semester. However, they were still able to maintain their commitment as well as effective communication with the team, enabling them to generate satisfactory work.

The team expressed their heartfelt gratitude towards each other, along with their supervising lecturer, for their solid cooperation despite their busy schedules.

With this achievement, the ITB Squad Team once again demonstrated the capacity of Indonesia’s younger generations to introduce new and renewable energy to address the challenges of climate change.

Translator: Nadya Fini Nabila (Management, 2026)