In case of a power cut PLN ready with backups
In case of a power cut PLN ready with backups
By Frits Pangemanan
JAKARTA (JP): The State Electricity Company (PLN), currently
facing public wrath for raising rates beginning this month, does
not want to take any risk of power outages during the APEC
meetings here and in Bogor.
"We have prepared a four-tier power supply system to prevent
any possible interruption of current at the venues of the APEC
meetings and other buildings and strategic places related to the
important event," said Azis Sabarto, PLN's chief of its Jakarta
and Tangerang branch.
He said PLN has spent the equivalent of US$8.7 million to
develop the system which will make power interruptions almost
impossible.
"We have allocated another Rp 5 billion ($2.3 million) budget
to operate the system," Sabarto added.
PLN has laid a reserve power cable system, which is linked to
the Senayan and Karet transmission stations, at the Presidential
Palace in Bogor, where the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting will be
held on Nov.15, the State Palace in Jakarta, the Jakarta
Convention Hall and the Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma
airports.
The two transmission stations are backed up by two power
plants; in Suralaya on the northwestern tip of West Java and in
Muara Karang, north of Jakarta.
Under the first-tier power supply system, the Senayan
transmission station is backed up by the Karet station.
"If power supply is interrupted from the Senayan station, the
power will be supplied within 0.3 second by the Karet station,"
Sabarto said.
PLN also has prepared an uninterrupted power supply system, as
the second tier supply, in case both the Senayan and the Karet
stations fail. This system will be operated pending the repair of
the stations.
"If the repair work takes more than 15 minutes, we will use
the third-tier supply system -- the captive generator sets
already available at the five locations," he said.
Assuming the worst possible scenario, in which even those
generators fail to work, "we will turn to our own diesel
generators," he added.
Safety
He said that safety measures also have been taken to secure
uninterrupted power supply at other strategic places, such as the
hotels where the delegates stay, major shopping centers and such
places of interests as the Taman Mini Park.
"PLN will assign technicians at those places 24-hours-a-day to
cope with any possible power supply problems," Sabarto said.
As many as 752 PLN technicians and executives have been
assigned especially to maintain an uninterrupted power supply
during the APEC meetings in Jakarta and Bogor.
The detailed safety measures are especially necessary because
we anticipate heavy rains and strong winds beginning this month,
he said.
"We have prepared 21 mobile power generators in Jakarta and 11
others in Bogor for the event," he added.
He expects that the power supply capacity will pose no
problems at all because the Java-Bali interconnected grid has an
oversupply of around 4,500 megawatts (MW).
He estimated that the additional demand for electricity during
the APEC meetings will only reach around 75 MW. PLN's subscribers
in Jakarta utilize only 3,500 MW.
A back-up power supply system also has been established for
six hospitals, Pertamina hospital, Metropolitan Medical Center,
Pelni Hospital, Pondok Indah, Harapan Kita Hospital and Cipto
Mangunkusumo, as well as for all hospitals in Bogor.
He added that PLN also will keep special guard on the Industri
Pesawat Terbang National (IPTN) aerospace company in Bandung, the
Husein Sastra Negara and Atang Sanjaya airports, the national
radio and television stations RRI and TVRI, telecommunications
offices and major hotels.
According to Aziz, PLN will deploy 964 operators and
technicians and open 107 new operational posts in Jakarta for
serving the APEC summit. "In Bogor, PLN will open 28 operational
posts and use 276 technicians during the event," he added.
PLN also established a multiple safety system to prevent power
interruption during the summit meeting of the Non-Aligned
Movement here in September, 1992.