FOR Subandra Blonkod and his friends, studying at night was unusual, as this third-year SMP (junior high) student lives in the remote village of Ponelo, over 100 kilometers away from the town of Gorontalo. At night the village was pitch-black.

But now darkness is no longer a learning handicap for children at Ponelo. The BPPT (Agency for the Assessment & Application of Technology), together with the Gorontalo Regency, has built a hybrid power gen