Sunday's blackout<\/p>\n
It is still hard to believe that the mere malfunctioning of
\nthree electronic cards worth about US$33,000 at the Gandul
\ntransmission and load-control station could have brought down
\nalmost the entire power grid in Java and Bali for 10 hours.<\/p>\n
But that was the technical trouble which the president of
\nstate-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara
\n(PLN), Djiteng Marsudi, cited on Sunday night as the main cause
\nof the blackout. This simple explanation might cause even greater
\nworries among the public: Is the Java-Bali power interconnection
\nsystem so vulnerable?<\/p>\n
As Djiteng said, technical troubles or a natural disaster
\ncould disable any power system anywhere in the world. But
\nniggling questions arise: Why did the electronic cards wear out
\neight years earlier than their technically guaranteed operational
\nlife? Why did PLN take so long to replace them on Sunday? We
\nalso wonder as to whether the power interconnection system,
\ndesigned to improve the economic dispatch of electricity from
\nwidespread generation plants, could not be improved further to
\navoid a domino effect of technical trouble at a transmission
\nstation.<\/p>\n
The way PLN addressed complaining customers during Sunday's
\nblackout also shows how totally unprepared the public utilities
\ncompany was in coping with such an emergency.<\/p>\n
The power failure began at 10 a.m. but no official explanation
\nwas issued by PLN until Djiteng talked to the press late in the
\nevening. An early explanation would have helped a lot in
\npreparing the public to cope with the problem. Coordination with
\npolice headquarters also would have minimized the traffic chaos
\nin major cities.<\/p>\n
The manners in which PLN treated its customers did not help
\nincrease our confidence in its reliability. The public utilities
\ncompany instead remains infested with the disease inherent within
\na monopoly: disregard of customers. And the public has no
\nalternative but to accept PLN's shortcomings. Neither do the
\ncustomers have a legal course to sue PLN for damages caused by
\na power failure.<\/p>\n
The latest power failure once again raises the issue as to
\nwhether deregulation and privatization in the electricity sector
\nshould not be limited to generation, as it is now, but perhaps
\nshould be extended to power distribution as well.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Mines and Energy should thoroughly investigate
\nSunday's power disruption, especially since the last massive
\nblackout took place as recently as November, 1994. The massive
\npower outage in mid-January, 1992 could be seen as an act of God
\nsince it was caused by a lightning bolt. We have often been
\ncommended for our ability to build big, sophisticated facilities
\nbut we still often neglect the vital importance of maintenance.
\nWe have yet to learn the urgency of setting and upholding well-
\ndesigned safety measures.<\/p>\n
Electricity is vital to humans, especially in urban areas. And
\nthe more advanced the stage of economic development becomes, the
\nheavier the reliance of the country on electricity becomes. The
\ntraffic chaos, disrupted production schedules and manufacturing
\nprocesses at factories as well as disturbed commercial activities
\nare only some of the losses incurred by the power failure.<\/p>\n
There could be another grave impact of the latest blackout:
\ndeclining investors' confidence in the country's power system.
\nThis may increase the capital costs of investment ventures
\nbecause more commercial and industrial establishments may need to
\nset up captive power units of their own.<\/p>\n
It would be a big problem both for the country's economic
\ncompetitiveness and for PLN itself if declining confidence in the
\nreliability of its power supply forces an increasing number of
\ninvestors to rely on generators. In the 1980s there was an acute
\nsupply shortage, but PLN's problem now is how to sell its large
\nquantity of unused electricity. PLN's supply capacity will
\ngreatly increase within the next three to five years when most of
\nthe 24 private power generation projects come on stream. PLN's
\ntop priority therefore should be the security and quality of
\nsupply. All our grand plans to leap into the information age and
\nthe respectable upper middle-income group of countries would be
\nineffective if we are still saddled with an archaic power
\ntransmission system.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sundays-blackout-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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