Green Hydrogen Village

A community- driven clean energy transition model for rural & coastal areas

Building energy resiliency to Bali's coastal communities through open, accessible, and safe green hydrogen innovation - blending applied research and community development for clean energy communities and ecosystem regeneration.

Project Type
Community development and applied research project funded by ViriyaENB.
Project Duration
Multiyear (1-10 years)
Areas of Intervention
Energy Futures, Waste Management, New Learning models, Ancient-Future Technology, Alternative Materials
The Challenge
Bali’s coastal communities face escalating climate risks and limited access to sustainable energy solutions.
The Solution
An integrated innovation ecosystem promoting sustainable energy solutions, local empowerment, and environmental regeneration through community-driven innovation and future-ready skill development.

The Project

Green Hydrogen Village (Desa Hidrogen Hijau) aims to bring closer to local communities in Bali the potential of alternative sources of energy that can stimulate the local economy while recovering natural ecosystems and building new skills in digital technologies and innovation.

The Hydrogen Village is a multi-year project involving a mixed group of local and international researchers and innovators coming from different backgrounds such as design, digital fabrication, engineering, biology, as well with long term experience in development of projects and programs internationally. The project is an initiative by CAST Foundation, Meaningful Design Group, and Fab Lab Bali.

Background

Indonesia’s Energy Reality

Indonesia relies on fossil fuels for 86% of its electricity, making it one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters. The country has bold renewable energy targets (Net Zero by 2060), but rural and coastal communities like most villages in Bali are often overlooked in the transition, even though they would be the first to be directly impacted climate crisis, and Desa Serangan is one of them.

A Coastal Community in Changing Tides

Serangan is a small desa island in South Denpasar, home to roughly 4,080 residents across six banjars and a Bugis village. With an area of 4.81 km², Serangan is defined by its edges: mangroves, tidal flats, and coastal waters make up much of its terrain. Fishing and sea-based livelihoods have long guided the daily life here. Community infrastructures, like Balai Banjar as the gathering and early learning centers, places of worship, and local groups, anchors life on the island.

Today, Serangan sits at the crossroads of tradition and transformation. While its coastal heritage remains central, the island is increasingly shaped by village tourism, environmental stewardship, and its evolving connection to the urban fabric of Denpasar. Serangan stands as a desa negotiating continuity and change, where community, ecology, and the sea continue to shape its unfolding story.

Pilot Location

North Serangan, Bali, Indonesia

The pilot project will begin in North Serangan of Bali, alongside efforts to revitalize the environmental and socio-economic conditions in the village following the impact of land reclamation.

The Challenge

Waste Management Crisis
TPA Suwung’s waste management (or lack thereof) impacting Desa Serangan’s air and coastal pollution.
Coastal Degradation
Environmental damages due to past reclamation activities in Serangan Island and nearby Benoa Bay.
Economic Vulnerability
Serangan's economy is heavily tied to tourism, leaving other traditional livelihoods increasingly vulnerable.

The Gap

A Community-driven Energy Transition Model

It is crucial more than ever to adopt sustainable approaches for decarbonization projects in the country that is equitable and affordable to all - without creating negative environmental impacts and forced displacement of indigenous communities. Without meaningful intervention, Serangan faces growing climate risks and exclusion from the clean energy transition.

To bridge this gap, Green Hydrogen Village aims to grow a community-driven, and clean energy transition model, that not only builds local climate resilience, nurture future-ready skills, and scalable, but also explores hydrogen innovation that are:

Open-sourced and distributed
Frugal and accessible
Safe and responsible
Bottom-up approach and direct grassroot implementation.

The Opportunity

Imagining Pathways to the Cleanest Energy Futures

Bali is surrounded with 633.35 km coastline of vast ocean and a generous solar exposure of average radiation intensity about 4.8 kWh/m2 a day.

Green Hydrogen emerges as the most fitting choice as hydrogen fuel cells, characterized by their superior energy density, reduced weight, and extended lifespan compared to lithium batteries. It presents heightened range potential and enhanced load-carrying capacity (hydrogen fuel 142 mj/kg > lithium batteries generally no more than 1.8 mj/kg).

How we do it

A Meaningful Design Approach

It is crucial more than ever to adopt sustainable approaches for decarbonization projects in the country that is equitable and affordable to all - without creating negative environmental impacts and forced displacement of indigenous communities. Yet, the production of green hydrogen is still not cost-competitive and is not grounded for underrepresented communities, particularly in coastal areas of Indonesia, which would highly benefit from its implementation.

A diagram visualizing our meaningful design approach

Meaningful Design Strategies
Exploring the meeting point of culture, arts, science, and technology to create situated meaningful interventions
Grassroot Approach to New Tech Adoption
Exploring community-based strategies for new technology adoption in renewable energy and ecological well-being
Distributed Model for Net Zero Innovations
Exploring distributed innovations framework towards net-zero communities, starting from the village scale

A Glimpse into Our Development Process

Rooted in experimentation, collaboration, and meaningful design, Hydrogen Village serves as a testbed where communities and innovators co-create cleaner, more resilient futures for Bali. This gallery captures highlights from our development process—from prototyping and field experiments to workshops, Banjar-driven initiatives, and ecological interventions shaped together with the local community.

Inside the Making of Hydrogen Village

We believe knowledge should be open and accessible. Explore our technical documentation, project notes, blueprints, and research materials on our GitBook for deeper insights into the process behind Hydrogen Village initiative.