Evaluating the Impact of Technological Adoption Policy for Rural Coastal Communities

Abstract

The solar power plant program is the policy issued by the Indonesian government to assist the rural community on electrical supply in remote islands. However, there is no study to evaluate the implementation of the program for rural coastal areas. In this paper, we examine the impact of new technology adoption for rural coastal communities. We focused on the economic effect of adopting solar power generation in Karimun Regency, Kepulauan Riau. The data were collected using a survey on 262 households in two villages. Using a before-after evaluation strategy, we analyse how the economic condition of the society before and after implementing the new equipment. We find that the implementation of a solar power plant has a positive impact on increasing the household’s income. The results contribute to our understanding of how the effect of adopting the technological policy for rural coastal communities.