To end blackouts in greater Jakarta , state electricity utility, PT PLN will spend up to Rp 3
o end blackouts in greater Jakarta , state electricity utility, PT PLN will spend up to Rp 3.7 trillion (US$410 million) to improve transmission and distribution in the capital, the company’s executive has said.
“The project is called the 500 KV project. We will construct a network system among substations in Jakarta, including a 150 KV cable underground line in the city and four high voltage substations,” Ngurah Adnyana, the Java and Bali operational director, told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The four substations will be built in North Jakarta; in Muara Karang, in Plumpang, in Duri Kosambi and in Tanjung Priok.
PLN transmission and load dispatch general manager Zainal Abdidin Sihite said this year PLN had allocated Rp 3.7 trillion for the financing of projects. “The funds will be from internal sources,” he said.
Zainal said, starting this year the company would construct a network system connecting Duri Kosambi to Kembangan. “This project has been approved by the government. The required analyses on the impact of the project on the environment have also been approved, as well as its project design. Now, we are still seeking the contractor for this project,” Zainal said.
He revealed that PLN had also tendered Duri Kosambi substation which would have two interbase transformators. “We are also still seeking contractors to build the other three substations,” he said.
Adnyana said the project would integrate all the city substations so that power supply to customers would not be affected if there was a technical problem in one of them.
For example, Ngurah said, at present the Ketapang substation totally relied on electricity supply from the substation in Muara Angke. “If something happens in Muara Angke, the power supply to the Ketapang substation will be cut off, causing a blackout in the area.
“As the solution, we will construct a new network system to connect the Ketapang substation to the Mangga Besar substantion to ensure that the Ketapang substation will be able to get power supply even if Muara Angke suffers a technical problem,” Ngurah said.
He hoped that the project to improve the power distribution networks in the capital could be completed by 2015
Since 1998, Indonesia has experienced an electricity crisis because PLN’s power capacity cannot meet the ever-increasing demand for electricity, causing power shortages and frequent blackouts across
the country.
The situation is better in Jakarta than in many other regions. However, a technical problem in a power station often causes blackouts in several areas in the capital. For example, explosions in two output transformers at PLN’s largest electricity substation in Cawang Baru, on Sept. 29 due to a fire last year caused power blackouts in many areas in the city.
Currently the government is working on its second 10,000-megawatt electricity crash program to increase PLN capacity to supply electricity to the country.
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