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lackouts that lasted nearly a full day in Kombi district, Minahasa regency, North Sulawesi, disrupted daily activities and cut off communications for people living in several villages along Lake Tondano.

The blackouts began on Saturday at around 5 p.m. and the power
did not resume until around the same time the next day, said local resident Yannemieke Singal on Sunday evening.

State-electricity company PLN did not provide much information regarding the blackout, she said, adding that it took more than six hours for the company to respond to her complaint.

North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and Gorontalo (Suluttenggo) PLN spokesman Jantje Rau said the power disruption in Kombi district was the result of a disconnected line.

“Our workers met difficulties because of the rough terrain in the forest, so it will take a long time to locate the severed cable,” said Jantje.

PLN could also no provide information to customers because of the difficulties accessing the area. “So, we were late in conveying the information,” said Jantje.

In an effort to speed up the restoration of the North Sulawesi-Gorontalo power network, PLN has flown in parts of an emergency tower from Makassar, South Sulawesi, by means of an Air Force Hercules cargo aircraft, which arrived at Gorontalo’s Djalaluddin Airport at 11:47 a.m on Monday.

Jantje said the emergency tower was hauled by three low-bed container trucks to the location where the No. 6 high-voltage line tower collapsed. PLN expects the broken power system will be restored later this week.

Meanwhile, PLN’s Papua and West Papua office has brought in seven 4-megawatt power generators to deal with the ongoing power crisis, which has taken place for the past two months in Jayapura.

The generators arrived at Jayapura Port on Monday and will be installed at the Waena diesel power plant (PLTD).

“This is part of our efforts to prepare and maintain power supplies ahead of the Christmas holiday by adding around 4 MW of power. The Orya hydroelectric power plant [PLTA] and Halltekamp steam power plant [PLTU] are still being renovated,” said PLN’s Papua and West Papua region technical manager PPL Tobing.

Tobing said the seven generators and two fuel tanks were brought in from Surabaya, East Java, and had already been transported to the Waena power plant, which would later connect power to the Jayapura power system.

“The generators will not be immediately in operation as they will take 15 days to prepare and then linked to the Jayapura power system. We expect power will not be disrupted over Christmas and power outages will no longer occur,” said Tobing.

PLN’s Jayapura regional office has been experiencing a deficit of between 10 and 15 MW and has had to impose rotating blackouts for up to six hours daily.

“When will this end? The blackouts take place every day. If a blackout occurs in the morning, power will only resume later in the day,” lamented Sari, a housewife.

Papua provincial council Commission IV member Yan Mandenas said he would push for the central government’s help in overcoming the power crisis in Jayapura.

He expected that Papua would have better power facilities following the inauguration of six electricity projects in Papua and West Papua by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in October.