Hi James
It’s really positive that you’re asking these sorts of questions, it means that you’re looking at holistic solutions that factor in cross cultural considerations.
Firstly, we recommend you read “A community trapped between Tradition and Change”
https://ewbchallenge.org/challenge/saibai-island-tsirc/introduction-to-saibai-island/. This will give your team insight into how colonisation and Government intervention have created challenges that profoundly affect islander life, including their present dependence on infrastructure such as energy systems.
From the design brief, we know that Saibai Island’s power station, located in the southeast community, operates on modular diesel generators, allowing for maintenance without disrupting supply. The school, hospital, and water treatment plants are the largest energy consumers.
Residential usage for day to day livelihood, provision of local services, their way of life is dependent on this infrastructure. The poor reliability of diesel generators, rising sea levels from climate change introduce extra risks and intensify community anxiety. They cannot simply get up and abandon the land of their ancestors so easily, given the deep cultural connection.
Your design must be technically sound, financially and environmentally feasible. It should seek to strengthen community resilience, provider greater individual ownership and move away from centrally owned + administered systems. How could you include local knowledge in design, maintenance of your alternative energy solution?
There’s a lot to unpack, but hopefully this gives you some food for thought.
Tom Nguyen.
James Nguyen
Tom Nguyen