No more power blackouts, PLN promises

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 06/23/2007 9:59 AM | Business

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned power utility PLN said Friday there would be no more partial blackouts, for the present at least, in Java and Bali as the five power plants that were the cause of the blackouts had began to operate normally.

PLN Java/Bali general manager Muljo Adji told reporters Friday that PLN's two power plants, which had earlier been operating at under capacity, had begun functioning normally again Friday.

Muljo said the 840-megawatt (MW) Muara Tawar combined cycle plant in Bekasi, West Java, had now resumed operations after the repair of a malfunctioning fuel pump, which had starved the plant of fuel.

The plant is currently using diesel due a shortage of gas.

""The Cilacap power plant is also operating normally again as of today (Friday),"" Muljo said.

Partial blackouts hit several parts of Java island Thursday at between 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., as the five of PLN's power plants were unable to operate at full capacity due to either fuel or technical problems.

The plants included the 600-MW Paiton coal-fired plant in East Java and the 600-MW Suralaya coal-fired plant in Banten, which were unable to operate at a full capacity due to technical problems.

The other three plants were the 740-MW Cilegon gas-fired plant in Banten, 840-MW Muara Tawar combined cycle plant in Bekasi, West Java, and the 300-MW Cilacap coal-fired plant, which had been suffering from fuel problems.

The areas affected by the power blackouts in Jakarta included Tanjung Priok, Martadinata, Sunter and Cilincing in North Jakarta; and Yos Sudarso and Pegangsaan in Central Jakarta.

Muljo said that PLN had managed to avoid blackouts in some areas as the company was able to minimize its power deficit to 35 MW compared with the expected 500 MW thanks to the help of consumers in reducing their power usage during peak hours.

He also promised there would be no blackouts this weekend as industrial demand was always lower on Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, PLN chief commissioner Alhilal Hamdi told The Jakarta Post that as the other three power plants -- Cilegon, Suralaya and Paiton -- were expected to start operating normally again next week, PLN was optimistic there would no more blackouts after the weekend.

He added that the company was trying to resolve the technical problems at the Suralaya and Paiton plants so as to allow them to start operating normally again by next week.

Regarding the Cilegon plant, Alhilal said that hopefully the company would be able to secure additional gas supply by next week.

Separately, Pertamina fuel division head Djaelani Sutomo said that the state-owned oil and gas company had increased its supply to PLN by 30,000 kiloliters (kl) of oil to 120,000 kl from the monthly average of 90,000 kl in order to help the PLN resolve its fuel shortage problems in Java/Bali.

Djaelani added that the additional supply to PLN would not disrupt Pertamina's supplies to other customers.

Pertamina supplies an average of 700,000 kl of oil per month to PLN.

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