Power-supply disruptions<\/p>\n
Energy analysts and state-owned electricity company PLN itself
\nwarned as early as 2000 of a looming power-supply disruption in
\nJava and Bali due to the absence of additional power
\ninfrastructure since the 1997 financial crisis and the
\nsignificant increase in demand for power as the economy began to
\nrecover. However, no one expected that parts of East Java would
\nsuffer blackouts as early as last week.<\/p>\n
What made the situation even more worrisome to industrial
\nenterprises is the ambiguous explanations provided by PLN and the
\nMinister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro.<\/p>\n
They persistently denied there was any crisis, asserting that
\nthe supply disruption was only temporary due to technical
\nproblems at several major power stations in Java that cut down
\nthe supply capacity by between 600 megawatts (MW) and 800 MW.<\/p>\n
But one finds it quite hard to accept this explanation because
\nwhen several hydropower plants in Java lost more than 60 percent
\nor 1,260 MW of their total capacity due to the lack of water
\nsupply during the dry season last July, PLN was not forced to
\nimpose rotating power blackouts.<\/p>\n
One plausible reason could be that the losses in supply
\ncapacity at power stations and in transmission and distribution
\nlines could have been much bigger than those claimed by PLN.<\/p>\n
Judging by the PLN estimate early last week that the peak load
\nin the Java-Bali region was only about 13,250 MW, there should
\nhave been a reserve margin of more than 40 percent to meet the
\n600-800 MW supply shortfall because PLN's total capacity in the
\nregion is more than 18,610 MW.<\/p>\n
Normally only a minimum reserve margin of 30 percent is
\nrequired to avert power disruption during the peak-load period. A
\nreserve level lower than the minimum could plunge parts of Java
\ninto darkness during the peak-load time.<\/p>\n
The troubling question then is whether PLN's power reserve
\nmargin could have been much smaller than the minimum 30 percent.<\/p>\n
Whatever the case, the situation is quite worrisome indeed.<\/p>\n
PLN's explanations about the technical problems that caused
\nseveral double-cycle power stations in Java to lose 600 MW of
\ntheir total supply capacity also raised big questions. It said
\nthe technical problems occurred because these plants had been
\nforced to use fuel oil, rather than natural gas, most of the
\ntime.<\/p>\n
Are PLN engineers so technically incompetent so as not to
\nanticipate these problems with proper maintenance work?<\/p>\n
Whatever the real reason behind the disruptions, rotating
\npower blackouts in several industrial areas in East Java are
\nraising great concern because electricity is so vital to the
\neconomy.<\/p>\n
This problem once again is raising big issues about PLN's peak
\nload management, maintenance system and the efficiency of its
\ntransmission and distribution lines.<\/p>\n
True, the power monopoly, overburdened with mountains of debts
\ncaused partly by the melting of the rupiah, simply does not have
\nenough resources even to expand its transmission and distribution
\nnetworks, let alone construct new generation stations.<\/p>\n
But power-supply disruptions should not have occurred had PLN
\nestablished good cooperation with captive power suppliers in
\nJava, which have an estimated 6,800 MW in reserve capacity. This
\ncaptive power generation was built mostly in the early 1990s when
\nindustrial growth outpaced power infrastructure development so
\nthat many industrial companies, faced with frequent power
\nshortage, built their own power units.<\/p>\n
PLN and the government has thus far resolved price disputes
\nwith 20 of the 27 independent power producers that were licensed
\nin the early 1990s, but many of them will come on stream only
\nwithin the next three to four years. PLN itself is building a new
\npower station with a capacity of 850 MW at Muara Tawar in West
\nJava but this one too is only expected to come on line next year.<\/p>\n
The power-capacity level will thus remain dangerously low,
\nmaking industrial users in Java and Bali highly vulnerable to
\nsupply disruptions.<\/p>\n
It is therefore more imperative than ever for PLN to improve
\nits peak load management, maintenance system and cooperation with
\ncaptive power suppliers to avert major power blackouts during
\nthis critical period until enough additional capacity comes on
\nstream to increase the power reserve margin much higher than the
\nminimum 30 percent.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/power-supply-disruptions-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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