Hakim Subekti shows his team’s Povitts prototype

ITS Campus, ITS News – Because of the government policy to work from home and distance learning amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. It has made household electricity usage even higher. Based on these problems, the four students of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) created an innovation in business idea called Povitts, a mobile application for household Photovoltaics (PV) service consulting services providers.

They are Hakim Subekti and Muhammad Yusuf Akbar, students of the Department of Electrical Engineering class of 2017, Dian Imanur Rohmah from the Department of Electrical Engineering, class of 2018, and Aminy Widinal Hartiningrum from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, class of 2018. This team succeeded in conceiving  business ideas in consulting Photovoltaics (PV) services for households via the mobile app.

The team leader, Hakim Subekti, revealed that since the obligation to work from home and distance learning, household electricity has become the largest contributor to electricity consumption with an increase of 10 percent. This makes people have to spend more money than usual to pay for and meet their electricity needs. “It is not uncommon for them to complain about their household electricity costs,” he said.

Hakim continued this problem could be resolved by the community starting to use Photovoltaics (PV), namely the use of solar energy to become electrical energy. This of course can reduce the cost of using household electricity. “However, it turns out that so far the public does not know about it,” he continued.

The student from Probolinggo said that Povitts has several features that can support and benefit society. Examples such as selecting and ordering PV designs. With this feature, Povitts not only provides several PV design options, but customers can also design PV according to their wishes. “Not only that, but this application also provides consultation and PV installation features,” he added.

Hakim Subekti shows his team’s Povitts prototype

Hakim added that the application made by his team provides educational features about PV. This can be a means for the community to increase knowledge about sources of New and Renewable Energy (EBT). “It is important for the Indonesian people to start knowing about EBT,” he said.

This alumnus of SMA Negeri 1 Kota Probolinggo stated that, compared to its competitors, Povitts has several advantages. Based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and applications, Povitts is able to connect customers with consultants, thus making this application responsive within 24 hours. In addition, Povitts can reach remote areas of Indonesia. “These advantages make consumers interested in our products,” he claims.

Hakim and his team members created the Povitts application

Through this innovation, Hakim and his team have also won awards. They won first place in the Sination Business Plan Competition held by the University of Jember last month. They managed to beat participants from several universities in Indonesia.

Hakim hopes that with this application the public can feel and utilize electrical energy evenly. Not only that, but he also hopes that Povitts can continue to be developed so that it can be implemented in people’s lives. “In its development, we hope to cooperate with universities, the government, PLN, and other companies,” he said hopefully. (dil/nadh/ITS Public Relations)

The UI of Povitts app made by Hakim Subekti and his team