International Project Management Report: ATA Solar Project Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Australian non-government and not-for-profit organization ATA's East Timor solar project, initiated in the late 2000s. The project aimed to install solar light panels in villages to address electricity shortages, focusing on local involvement and sustainable living advice. The report details the project's description, critical analysis, organizational structure, roles, responsibilities, project management plan, controls, commissioning, operation, and maintenance. Key aspects include Google impact funding, local training, community management, and the challenges of transporting materials. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of local involvement and the project's adherence to Google's deadlines, offering valuable insights into international project management within a non-profit context.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The main aim of the report is to focus on the Australian Non government and not – for – profit
organization ATA. The company had started an East Timor (ET) solar project in the late 2000s.
The organization put forward free advice service on sustainable living for households and
communities. The main project of the organization is the installation of the solar light panel in
villages by which the crises of electricity can be solved. The company is planning to execute the
process with the help of local people since the project is local based.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
2. Project Description......................................................................................................................4
2.1 Critical Analysis....................................................................................................................4
2.2 Organization, Roles and Responsibilities..............................................................................5
3. Project Management Plan............................................................................................................5
3.1 Project Controls.....................................................................................................................6
3.2 Commissioning, Operation and Maintenance........................................................................6
4. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................7
5. References....................................................................................................................................8

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1. Introduction
ATA is an Australian Non government and not – for – profit organization. The company
had started an East Timor (ET) solar project in the late 2000s. The organization put forward free
advice service on sustainable living for households and communities.
The main aim of the report is to put limelight on the implementation of the solar light
panel in village are and the consequences and the implementation details involved in the process
2. Project Description
The main project which is an East Timor project has been in active role since 10years.
Almost 35% of the houses don’t have the basic electricity which is the main concern form the
companies’ aspect. The company has the experience and the infrastructure by which the
company can provide electricity to the target area (Zahnd & Kimber , 2016). The main project
scheme was the village lighting scheme with the emphasis of providing clean solar lighting to the
village or houses which are in remote and isolated area which does not have access to the power
grid.
2.1 Critical Analysis
The financial value of the village lighting scheme project in the estimate year 2014 to
2016 was around $ 300,000. The main funding of the project was the Google impact funding
from Australia which was very much beneficial for ATA (Thomas et al., 2017). The company
relied on membership donation and small donations from other not for profit groups. This was
the main reason that the company couldn’t take put big or higher value projects (Order &
Scheffe, 2016).

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2.2 Organization, Roles and Responsibilities.
The organization was mainly divided into different parts. The ATA members and the
locals worked together in order to achieve the goal. The main emphasis of the project was to
keep the project local. For this the local people were given training so that the basic functionality
that are involved in the system like installing the system, maintaining the system and the pair of
parts that do not work appropriately was done by the locals only (Borodaï et al.2016). The main
aspect of the project was that the funding which was received from the Google had a criterion
that the project would have to be completed with 2 years.
3. Project Management Plan
The ATA has been working in the East Timor for almost 10 year or so. Primarily the
project was executed previously before the village lighting scheme by volunteers. This mainly
initiated a new process in order of processing of a larger project in a more systematic way
(Yfanti, Sakkas & Nistikaki, 2016). This project was very important because of the huge
monitory factor and the huge implementation factor, the company was more vigorous in order of
the project management. Since the company was working in the East Timor for a long time the
company had a very good knowledge and understanding of the area. The company already had a
partnership with a local organization which was very much beneficial. As result of this
partnership both of the company was able to work together in order to implement the project.
The company had a goal of installing as many of the system they can in order to decrease the
overall cost factor. The main drawback of the system was the transport of the raw material to east
Timor and the basic testing which was involved in order for the proper working of the system
(Amritanand et al., 2016).

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3.1 Project Controls
The main control of the project and the focus of the project was the increase of the
household solar lighting scheme. It is a point to be noted that in East Timor houses already had
pre installed system in their houses in order to get the desired electricity. These were mainly
handout which was provided by the government. The people usually tampered with the system
and there was not any funding or maintenance available to the system which made them very
much unreliable. As a result of the the system did not last for more than a year or two
(Cucchiella et al.2017).
3.2 Commissioning, Operation and Maintenance
The main aim of the system was that to provide a system that the people could value. To
implementing this maintenance and the funding aspect of implementing the project was very
much important. In order to achieve so, the company had a designed a specific solar system with
the context. The technical work and the design work were done by a team who were involved
with the ATA for a long period of time. The micro controller was designed with the specific need
with highly skilled technician. The system was made very much harder so that it is very difficult
to temper with the system as a result of which the system can sustain for a much longer period of
time (Wagner et al., 2017). The company had also set up a village community management team.
This team would be responsible for managing the scheme. Each household would be provided
with a system which they will receive after giving a small amount. The system cost was $10 and
the maintenance was $2 per month in order to maintain the system. In order to achieve the
maintenance part the company had trained the local people so that can fix any part if there
situation arise of repair. The training incorporated installation of the system, do maintenance of

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the system and do basic repair. These all sections where included in the training sessions.
Everything in the system was locally managed.
4. Conclusion
The report can be concluded on that statement that the ATA was working towards a
specific goal of lighting up a village. The company usually had two seasons the dry season and
the wet season. It was a point that the project had to be completed with the dry season. Local
involvement played a vital role in every sphere of the project and the working of the project. The
projects main funding was the Google and focusing on that Google had set a deadline of
completing the project within the indicate deadline which was of two years.

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5. References
Amritanand, S., Divya, P., Gosh, U.G. and Vinod, T., 2016, October. E-Cycle: An offgrid
solution for rural electrification. In Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC), 2016
(pp. 507-513). IEEE.
Borodaï, K., Andersen, M., Chamilothori, K. and Chinazzo, G., 2016. Project 24-lighting
concept (No. EPFL-STUDENT-225469).
Cucchiella, F., De Berardinis, P., Koh, L. and Rotilio, M., 2017. Planning restoration of a
historical landscape: A case study for integrating a sustainable street lighting system with
conservation of historical values. Journal of Cleaner Production.
Order, M.A., PI, B. and Scheffe, J., 2016. Integrated Solar Lighting for Pedestrian Crosswalk
Visibility.
Thomas, A.A., Thelen, J.T., Go, A.S., Surbrook, T., Vanee, M.A. and Althouse, J., 2017. A
Dairy Long Day Lighting Success Story: MI Dairy Increases Production and Cuts Costs. In 2017
ASABE Annual International Meeting (p. 1). American Society of Agricultural and Biological
Engineers.
Wagner, P.R., Stewart, D.A., Dorogi, M.J., Burt, R. and Shelton, C.S., Abl Ip Holding Llc, 2017.
Lighting control with automated activation process. U.S. Patent 9,693,428.
Yfanti, S., Sakkas, N. and Nistikaki, A., 2016. Energy Savings in Municipal Road Lighting: The
Case of the Municipality of Hersonissos.

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Zahnd, A. and Kimber, H.M., 2016. Benefits from a renewable energy village electrification
system. Renewable Energy, 34(2), pp.362-368.