Java-Bali region prone to blackouts: PLN

Java-Bali region prone to blackouts: PLN

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The country's main Java-Bali power grid will continue to run
with thin reserves until April due to the lack of fresh power
supply despite growing power demands, making the region
vulnerable to rotating blackouts.

Basuki Prajitno, general manager of power plants and load
management of state-owned electricity firm PT PLN said demand for
electricity had been picking up since early this year.

"We project (that the) demand for electricity will reach 800
Megawatts (MW), while our existing reserve is only 600 MW,"
Basuki said on the sidelines of a World Energy Council seminar on
Wednesday.

He added that in the event that any big power plant
encountered technical problems, rotating blackouts would be
unavoidable.

The Java-Bali power grid is pivotal for the country because
the region is the most populated area, where huge manufacturing
companies operate.

The Java-Bali power grid has an installed capacity of 18,660
MW or 80 percent of the total installed capacity of 21,000 MW in
the country.

Of the total capacity of the Java-Bali grid, PLN could only
distribute between 13,305 MW to 15,254 MW. The remaining capacity
is used for PLN's own operations. The peak load ranges between
12,000 MW to 13,250 MW. This leaves a minimum reserve of between
145 MW to 1,427 MW.

In order to avoid any power disruption, PLN needs a minimum
reserve of 615 MW.

Power demand has been growing by seven percent annually or
higher than the growth of the country's Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) of around 4 percent.

Basuki said by the end of April, fresh power supply was
expected to come from the Muara Tawar power plant. It would
provide an additional 840 MW.

Next year, additional power supply is expected to come from
the coal-fired Cilacap power plant in Central Java which has a
capacity of 600 MW.

"The (power supply) condition will deteriorate if we don't get
new supply from Cilacap because the existing capacity is barely
enough to meet demands," Basuki said.

The Cilacap power plant is one of 26 independent power
producers where projects were suspended in 1997.

Last year, the government managed to renegotiate with the
independent power producers. Around 14 of them agreed to restart
their projects, seven agreed to terminate their projects,
including Cilacap power plant. The remaining projects were
acquired by PLN and state oil-and-gas firm Pertamina.

The government has received financing from the Bank of China
to restart construction of the Cilacap plant.