Tri Mumpuni is an agricultural engineer who has been campaigning for over 30 years to replace diesel power plants with micro-hydro plants to drive local economic growth in rural Indonesia. She has collaborated on renewable energy projects with key stakeholders, including the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (KESDM) and the Indonesian State Electricity Company (PLN). Her organisation, the People-Centered Business and Economic Initiative (IBEKA), has installed over 60 micro-hydro projects and solar photovoltaic systems for water pumping across Indonesia.
She pioneered the Pro Poor Public-Private Partnership (5P) Model to build small power plants, with the community and private sector each owning 50%. The revenue from energy sales is reinvested into villages for community development. This model, supported by UN-Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, has been adopted by many developing countries.
Currently, Puni is focused on training and deploying young engineers as community development facilitators in rural Indonesia.
She shares her experiences as a guest lecturer in community-based energy supply and rural economic development for many universities in Indonesia and also in the US, Japan and Europe. She has served since 2021 and now serves on the Board of Governance at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).
