Polbeng Strengthens Green Energy, Becomes the Most Sustainable Campus in Riau

BENGKALIS, GARISBUMI.com – Bengkalis State Polytechnic (Polbeng) is strengthening the implementation of green energy through installing solar panels, providing electric vehicle charging facilities, and building a practical workshop for assembling solar panels for students.

This step is part of Polbeng's sustainability program which, according to Polbeng Public Relations, is ranked first in Riau in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings 2026. This campus is in 105th national position and 978th in the world with a score of 5,695.

Polbeng's world ranking rose 65 positions compared to 2025, when it was 1,043rd.

Polbeng Director, Johny Custer, said that the development of clean energy facilities was part of the campus' efforts to support the energy transition. One of them is through the presence of Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (SPKLU) in the campus environment.

According to Polbeng's statement, this campus is the first university in Riau trusted by the PLN Customer Service Implementation Unit (UP3) for the installation of SPKLU.

"More than that, this facility is part of a joint effort to support government policies in the field of energy transition, development of the electric vehicle ecosystem, energy efficiency, as well as more environmentally friendly and sustainable development," said Johny.

Polbeng is also building a building for a practical workshop for assembling solar panels. The facility will be a place for students to study and assemble clean energy technology, complementing the solar panels that have been installed in a number of campus buildings.

Mangrove Planting to Farmer Assistance

Polbeng's sustainability program also includes research and community service activities.

Secretary of the Center for Research and Community Service (P3M) Polbeng, Labriel Hadi, said that over the past year the campus has run various programs that are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.

"For example, for service and research, we focus on programs that lead to the SDGs, such as increasing tree and mangrove planting, and becoming mentors for farmer groups in managing land," said Labriel, who is also a member of the UI GreenMetric data collection team.

UI GreenMetric assesses the sustainability performance of universities. Based on information from Polbeng, the 2026 assessment includes seven categories: planning and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, education and research, as well as governance and digitalization.

The ranking was attended by 2,016 institutions from 110 countries. In Riau, Polbeng's position is above the Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau State Islamic University which is ranked 109th nationally and 1,030th in the world, and the University of Riau is ranked 111th nationally and 1,046th in the world.

Program Documentation Still an Obstacle

In the midst of this increase in ranking, Polbeng still faces obstacles in documenting activities. Labriel admitted that not all program data was included in the ranking data collection due to limited archives.

"One of the challenges that must be fixed is that there is still a lot of our program data that has not been included due to limited archives. In the future, we must start documenting each activity in a more orderly and sustainable manner," he said.

Improving archives is one of the next jobs, along with developing environmentally friendly infrastructure, clean energy, and community service.