Jakarta to face more frequent blackouts

Parts of Jakarta will face more frequent blackouts as state power firm PT PLN limits the usage capacity at the Cawang power substation to avoid further technical failure.

“We earlier announced rotating blackouts of four hours every three days [for one area],” PLN’s Greater Jakarta general manager, Purnomo Willy, said Thursday.“Now we have it make it four hours every two days.”

The Cawang substation was gutted by a fire Tuesday afternoon, causing blackouts across parts of South and East Jakarta. PLN has brought it back into operation, but Willy warned it was not yet running at full capacity.

The capacity reduction will cause more frequent blackouts across a wider area. The blackouts had initially been scheduled for Cipinang, Pulomas, Duren Tiga, Mampang, Manggarai and Cawang, in South and East Jakarta.

“We’ll now also be cutting power to other areas, including Muara Angke, Marunda and Plumpang [in North Jakarta],” Willy said.

PLN is still in dark over when the blackouts will end.“We have no date for when operations will be back to normal; we’re working on it,” Willy said.