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Dark days ahead as blackouts worsen
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 07/08/2008 10:21 AM | Headlines
Passengers waited helplessly in dimly lit terminals as the runway fell eerily quiet.
Activity at Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar -- South Sulawesi's major airport -- came to a standstill as a region-wide electricity blackout suspended operations for several hours.
Flights delayed. Schedules abandoned. Travelers frustrated and angry.
Elvi, a passenger headed for Jakarta, said she had arrived at 4:30 a.m. to a pitch-black airport.
"The check-in gates were closed. We all had to wait outside," she said.
The three-hour blackout on Saturday, which began at about 3 a.m., was an example of how private, public and commercial activities across the country are being disrupted by the nation's growing power deficit.
In Riau province, the frustrations caused by blackouts are boiling over into a civil lawsuit.
For much of the past two months, the local state-owned electricity company (PLN) has conducted a weekly rotating blackout of two hours once a day in Pekanbaru.
But the frequency has increased during the past week to about three times a day, with each lasting for up to three hours.
The provincial chapter of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is now preparing a class action against PLN.
"We expect accountability from PLN," Muhammad Herwan, Kadin's executive director in Riau, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
"What are the solutions? What compensation can we expect for these blackouts? If they cannot ensure a sustainable supply of electricity, then let the private sector handle it."
Head of the Riau branch of the Indonesia Employers Association (Apindo), Hamdani Tarigan, warned of the impact the blackouts could have on investment.
"This morning I received a report from Japanese investors who left because of this situation," he said.
But there seems to be no relief in sight.
PLN said its central Sumatra grid has a deficit of 200 megawatts.
Two steam turbines in Ombilin, West Sumatra, are undergoing repair, and water levels in Singkarak Lake and Koto Panjang are low because of the dry season.
PLN branch manager in Pekanbaru Ericson Sidabutar acknowledged the shortcomings.
"No one is doing this on purpose. No one is profiting. We're all suffering," he said. "We can only urge the public to be more sparing in using electricity."
It is a story that is becoming increasingly familiar across the country.
PLN also announced on Friday there would be rotating blackouts in Tangerang and Jakarta.
Businesses estimated losses for Tangerang industries could reach more than Rp 2 billion (US$2.17 million) per day.
Makassar residents' revered airport quickly came "online" again. But many are bracing for the next blackout.
They too are hostages to the national electricity shortfall.
Head of the PLN local public affairs office, Muhammad Yamin Loleh, could offer nothing more than a warning.
"We urge critical installations in South Sulawesi to prepare their own generators," he said.
"The fact is, electricity supply is limited."
Andi Hajramurni in Makassar and Rizal Harahap in Pekanbaru contributed to this article.
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Sue (not verified) — Tue, 07/08/2008 - 6:49pm
The blackouts issue has been continuously persisting in certain part of Indonesia for some times. Can the government do something to resolve this issue? What is the point of promoting Indonesia adversely with major events such as Visiting Indonesia Year 2008 and Interfood Indonesia 2008, when the country can’t even regularly supply the most basic necessities – in this case power supply?
All of us know that PLN is the only company in supplying the state power supply. Indonesia consists of 33 provinces with 5 main islands. PLN mentioned earlier that the blackout is due to shortage of coal stockpiles. How about the blackouts in Sumatra’s island since last year? Is this due to shortage of coal stockpile too? I doubt so since the reason given by PLN was due to breakdown of old generators.
Given the above issue, why the government never consider about privatisation? It will take PLN at least 5 to 10 years to resolve the current situation. The blackout issue is getting worsen from time to time, How long will this issue persist? Probably, the government is willing to consider about privatisation until major investors left the country.
Look at the bigger picture by privatising it, the country is not relying the power supply issue into one basket. Privatising will allow private company to introduce new technology whereby in the long run will benefit PLN and the country itself.
PLN is the first player in Indonesia market. It has all the infrastructures in Indonesia. It won’t cause any harm to PLN even there is few more players in the market.
Indonesia is such big country which is experiencing tremendous growth at the moment. Will the investor willing to wait for another year or two given the current situation? How much will the industry player – manufacturing – be able to absorb the losses? At the end of the day, all those losses is going to pass to end user – customer. This explains why the inflation rate is getting higher in Indonesia.
Jimy (not verified) — Tue, 07/08/2008 - 5:46pm
Dark days indeed. Probbaly this is a preview of what is coming in the near future for indonesia crumbling infrastructure. The 10,000mw crash course is baloney, let go the power generating to private sector in the form of IPP. Yeah look at the process and “uang rokok” asked by pln insiders from the potential investors before a PPA is signed. Look at the much published cilacap ssp 600mw. It kept shutting down. Just blame it on the Chinese EPC. Funny though in china most epc are building and operating 1200mw or higher with little problem. Lucky for s2p they are 49% owned by pjb altough they come out for most of the equity.
The country is in the top 5 coal exporters of the world, and it is having problem with electricty. The world has gone crazy indeed. Maybe we should just let the Dutch colonialize us again; perhaps we may have better luck with them….
Sigit (not verified) — Tue, 07/08/2008 - 4:56pm
The cause is so simple: PLN lack of managements, you sacrifice all people just for your own sake. Invest your money for maintain the asset... not only for your board of director, the the problem will end. Very silly...
Ben (not verified) — Tue, 07/08/2008 - 12:19pm
PLN has been saying the same thing for the last few years, running all turbines until they break and "need maintenance", not investing all that much in new generating plants, and the government isn't exactly doing much either.
Point is, when a nation is developing, power consumption will increase one way or the other. "Going green" isn't going to work if rolling blackouts are still seen as a solution to a lack of power -- people won't bother with energy reduction since if you do reduce your power usage, you're still going to get hit with a blackout anyway, so why do it?