The ITS Anargya Team during warm-up activities at the ITS Circuit

ITS Campus, ITS News  — Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) shows its support for sustainable innovation through its readiness to host the PLN Innovation & Competition in Electricity (PLN ICE) 2025. The competition event that gathers innovation ideas in the electricity sector officially held its final opening at the ITS Circuit, Saturday (22/11).

PLN Research and Development Center General Manager Mochamad Soleh stated that the PLN ICE program is part of a series of PLN Cares programs, aligned with PLN’s other Social and Environmental Responsibility (TJSL) programs. He explained that each program is designed to address the urgent need to support clean energy development in Indonesia, particularly the electric vehicle ecosystem.

General Manager of PLN Research and Development Center Mochamad Soleh delivering a speech at the determination stage of PLN ICE 2025

The man, familiarly known as Soleh, emphasized that building an electric vehicle ecosystem also requires strategic steps to ensure that a successful innovation doesn’t just remain a prototype. “Therefore, this year, PLN initiated a startup competition scheme so that students aren’t just focused on developing their innovations but also on building their business models,” he explained.

Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Technology and Systems Engineering (FTIRS) ITS Prof Ir Juwari ST MEng PhD while giving a speech at the determination stage of PLN ICE 2025

In line with this, the Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Technology and Systems Engineering (FTIRS) ITS Prof. Ir Juwari ST MEng PhD said that ITS strongly supports PLN’s strategic steps in encouraging innovation that strengthens the sustainability of electric vehicles in Indonesia. He emphasized that ITS’s commitment to the electric vehicle (EV) field is reflected in the many achievements of the ITS automotive research team, the existence of an electric vehicle research center facility. “And the existence of a go-kart circuit at ITS which is the only one at an Indonesian university,” he said proudly.

Meanwhile, PLN ICE 2025 Coordinator Kafi Hannan Alhadi ST MT explained that this year’s event differed from previous years by adding a new category, the Startup Competition. This complements the other two categories: Electricity Innovation and Electric Vehicle Technology. Participant enthusiasm also increased, as evidenced by the more than 147 university teams that registered this year, before finally being narrowed down to 47 teams invited to the final round.

The ITS Circuit which is the location of PLN ICE 2025

The lecturer from the ITS Department of Mechanical Engineering also expressed his pride in the trust placed in ITS as host of this year’s event. “We hope the collaboration between ITS and PLN will continue and have a broader impact on the electric vehicle ecosystem,” he said.

This collaboration between ITS and PLN demonstrates the tangible contribution of universities and industry in driving the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , particularly in point 7 on Clean and Affordable Energy and point 9 on Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Aulia Okta Wijaya